


Twin Suns

by lannisterslioness



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Also a Jedi, Alternate Universe, Angst and Feels, F/M, Family Drama, Family Secrets, Friends to Lovers, Heavy Angst, I Blame Tumblr, Jag and Jaina parallels, Rey Solo, Rey is a Pilot, Some EU incorporated, solo family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-07-15 04:41:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 47,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7208144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannisterslioness/pseuds/lannisterslioness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey Solo, a Jedi Ace straight from Luke's Jedi Academy, has returned to her family after years of training to assist with the budding Resistance in their struggle to fight against the First Order. While there, Rey meets the infamous Poe Dameron who she can't decide whether she likes him or she wants to punch him in his perfect face. All while trying to navigate her feelings for the Commander, trouble begins to brew when someone close to home just may be turning towards the Dark Side...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The New Girl

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So, this started out as a little idea I had, I wanted to make Rey a pilot and part of the Solo family, heading home to her parents to join the Resistance and meeting Poe - however, 18tpaz changed that and gave me ideas and inspiration beyond my wildest dreams. She basically took what at the most would have been a ten chapter fic and gave me enough notes, tips, inspiration, and parallels that could easily last fifty chapters :P Hopefully you guys like this idea! If so, all credit for it's amazingness so goes to her, I have pages of notes because of her for this fic!

    To say that Rey was nervous would have been an understatement - she was anxious beyond all belief. She hadn’t seen her brother in two years, her parents in four going on five, spending those years away training under her Uncle Luke along with other fellow prospective Jedi’s. She had just finished training, or at least enough of it for Luke to say he thought it would be best if she went and joined her family again after being apart for so long. They had long left their home planet of Hosnian Prime in exchange for now taking up residence on D’Qar, home to the Resistance base leading the rebellion against the infamous and mysterious First Order. It was part of the reason after all that Luke had let Rey go home, her family needed her just as the other Jedi needed Luke to still train them; she had learned enough, she had been training under Luke since she was a little girl, she was a Jedi and a hell of a pilot to boot which made her father more than proud - going home to join the Resistance seemed like the natural thing to do. 

 

    But Rey was nervous not only because of her family, but because of what her family name and relation often brought upon her. She was the daughter of Han Solo, a former smuggler and currently taking up the title of General alongside her mother; her mother, Leia Organa, was not only a former princess of the lost planet of Alderaan, but also a General and strong with the Force just like her brother - the famous Luke Skywalker. All her life the Solo name along with the Skywalker legacy haunted them, causing people to either fake their emotions around them out of fear, or outright show their dislike for them and their “destructive family”. She was worried that the people on the base would be just like all the other people she’d ever met, and they’d either give her special treatment or accuse her of getting special treatment because she was related to two of the Generals and carried the Skywalker legacy with her just like her brother Ben did. 

 

    She sat there in her X-Wing, seeing her parents and Ben down on the tarmac, the base continuing on in the background though some glanced over in her direction to see why the Generals and their son had walked onto the tarmac. With one final deep breath, and a quick squeeze to her doll she had made ages ago to resemble a pilot before stuffing it into her bag for good luck, Rey unlocked the hatch to her X-Wing and pushed it up out of her way, climbing out of it before hitting the ground on her feet with a firm thud. 

 

    “Rey, honey, it’s so good to see you.” Her mother said right away, rushing up to her and wrapping her arms around her. Rey hesitated for a moment out of shock before hugging her mother back, burying her face into her shoulder and breathing in that familiar and distinct perfume her mother had worn since the day she was born, it always reminded her that as long as her mother had her arms around her, she was safe. “I missed you.” 

 

    “I missed you too.” Rey mumbled back with a smile on her face, she didn’t know just how much she missed her mother until she was there standing in front of her again, hugging her and remembering all the times she wished she could have hugged her while she was gone. 

 

    When Leia let go, Han came in for a hug pulling Rey in close and tightly; her father had always been a man of few words and even fewer emotions, but it was the small things such as a tight hug that let Rey know he truly loved her more than words could explain. 

 

    “Missed you kid.” Han told her as he pulled away, a brief smile on his face that made Rey smile right back. 

 

    “Missed you too, dad.” Rey answered with a bit of a nod. “Where’s Chewy?” 

 

    “He’s around here somewhere, probably down in the medical bay telling the healers more of his stories.” Han laughed before clapping Rey on the shoulder. 

 

    Last was her brother Ben, they were born ten years apart - Ben being planned and Rey a complete surprise - and they couldn’t have been more opposite when they were younger, always fighting and bickering. A few years with Luke straightened them out, and when she could understand Ben, she no longer felt the need to fight him, she shared the same loneliness he had since they were kids and all other cast them out, they were all the other had, but in recent years, the better Rey got at flying, the more they grew apart again - resorting to long silences and awkward encounters. She was more like their father than he would ever be, and neither of them were as political as their mother, leaving Ben feeling more alone than ever and Rey knew she couldn’t do much about it. 

 

    “Hey, Ben.” Rey stated awkwardly, hesitating on just going in for a hug. 

 

    “Hey, Rey.” Ben answered back, seeming to feel just as awkward as she had. 

 

    The two eventually gave one another a hug, an awkward one where they tried to keep as much distance as they could between one another and kept it as brief as they could. Rey sensed her brothers apprehension, she wondered if he was trying to pick up on the same in her; their bond was strong, but Rey knew they weren’t as close as they had been a few years ago. 

 

    Before anymore words could be exchanged, a little round droid rolled right up to Leia, unleashing a series of beeps and happy chirps that Rey found slightly adorable. 

 

_ [General-Leia! Friend-Poe has recieved some new insights about the First Order and is waiting to share them with you in the control room.] _ The little droid announced, the name Poe sounding familiar to Rey through her messages back and forth with her mother. 

 

    “Poe? Isn’t that the lapdog of yours?” Rey asked with a hint of a smirk on her face; every time the name Poe had been mentioned, it was about how much of a help he was to Leia, and how much promise she saw in him, and how he was just the best person in the entire galaxy (the last part being an exaggeration that Rey cooked up of the mysterious Poe). 

 

    “Rey.” Leia said in a bit of a warning tone, something familiar to her from her younger years. 

 

_ [What does ‘lapdog’ mean, General-Leia?] _ The droid questioned curiously. 

 

    “It’s nothing, Beebee-Ate.” Leia assured it. 

 

    “Well, Dameron is a bit of a lapdog.” Ben chimed in now with a smirk as well - a slight jealousy of Poe Dameron being something both Ben and Rey could agree on at the moment. 

 

    “Cool it, you two. And you haven’t even met him yet.” Leia glanced over at Rey. “He’s a big help to me and the Resistance.” 

 

    “Yes, mom.” Both siblings agreed in unison.

 

    “Rey, come with me, I have a few things to go over with Poe and then I’ll show you around the place so you can get settled in.” Leia stated, Rey knew it wasn’t a suggestion but more of an order. 

 

    “Alright.” Rey sighed reluctantly. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Control rooms were never Rey’s favorite place in the entire galaxy, they were always boring, filled with plans for just about everything that could happen but all of it so procedural and down to the dot. Rey, as her mother often said, was born “wild”, all she wanted to do since the day she was born was fly, just like her dad, to be out among the stars and free; Leia often said that she half expected Rey to be a smuggler like her father had been in his early days. When it was discovered that she had the Force as well however, Luke taught her order, or at least he tried to teach her some semblance of it, and for the most part Rey had calmed down a bit, but there was still that itch she had that she just couldn’t scratch, causing her to want to take flight and take orders from only herself - not some stiff in a suit. 

 

    Rey had planted herself over in the corner of the room like a child, not wanting to walk around and pretend that she knew what half of the things in the control room were when she had no idea. She watched the droid roll by while her mother went to another part of the control room to meet with this Poe Dameron she heard so much about. While Rey was waiting, the round little droid who had summoned Leia earlier made it’s way over to her with a friendly beep. 

 

_ [Greetings!] _ The droid chirped instantly.  _ [My name is Beebee-Ate, what is yours?] _

 

    “I’m Rey Solo.” Rey laughed a bit, she had met many droids with many personalities, but never one that seemed so happy and bright like this little round one before her. 

 

_ [Greetings, Friend-Rey!] _ The droid addressed her now.  _ [Are you a pilot?] _

 

    “Yeah, I am.” Rey nodded, leaning forward and enjoying her little conversation with BB-8. “I love flying.” 

 

_ [So do I! My master is a pilot as well, he loves to fly all the time and takes me with him on his missions, even the secret ones!] _ BB-8 answered. 

 

    “Well, it sounds like your master loves you very much if he takes you all over the place.” Rey grinned. “Who is he? Maybe I can race him sometime.” 

 

_ [That would be wonderful Friend-Rey! His name is Friend-Poe, or you may know his as Commander-Poe-Dameron.] _ BB-8 replied. 

 

    “Oh...he’s a pilot then too, huh?” Rey asked, trying not to let the droid see her disappointment that his master was the stick in the mud her mother practically bragged about. “That’s good, maybe we’ll race sometime.” 

 

_ [Wonderful!] _ BB-8 answered just in time for her mother and a rather handsome looking stranger in uniform walk up alongside her. 

 

    “I see you and Beebee-Ate are becoming friends.” Leia smirked. “Leave it to you to befriend the droids before people.” 

 

    “Droids are nicer sometimes.” Rey replied, glancing over at the stranger with the tousled black curled hair, olive skin, and dark brown eyes that were sort of hypnotizing, especially the way he was looking at her with that smirk on his face. 

 

_ [Friend-Poe! Friend-Rey is a pilot as well, she thinks you two should race one day.] _ BB-8 beeped up towards the stranger and suddenly Rey’s heart dropped - the handsome stranger was Poe Dameron, the man she’d subconsciously grown to resent over the past year because of how damn proud her mother was of him. 

 

    “Oh really? Well, I don’t know if she’d be up to that.” He was looking right at her when he said it, a cocky smile on his face, and Rey didn’t know if she wanted to punch him square in the jaw, or kiss him until she wiped that smile off his face. 

 

    “You’d be surprised, I’m a pretty damn good pilot.” Rey wasn’t about to go down without a fight - just because she found him attractive, and he was more than likely going to become her Commander, and he was her mother's favorite, it didn’t mean she wasn’t going to spar with him a bit. “I could out-fly you anyday,  _ Commander _ .” 

 

    “We’ll just have to see about that someday, won’t we  _ Solo _ ?” He answered, not willing to back down anytime soon. 

 

    “While I’m sure you two would love to race each other to the other end of the galaxy, we’ve all got work to do, so how about we get to it, huh?” Leia interjected, causing Rey to snap out of whatever hold he had on her with just his glare. 

 

    “I’ll go see if Blue Squadron can do a quick survey of the planet, General.” Poe announced, instantly prim and proper again, the charm and smirk vanishing from his face. 

 

    “Thank you.” Leia said. 

 

    “I’ll see you soon, Solo.” Poe added as he walked away and winked over in Rey’s direction before vanishing into the control room, leaving her a bit flustered and red-faced. 

 

    “Is your precious Commander always that damn irritating?” Rey asked with a huff. 

  
    “If you mean flirtaious, then yes, he’s always that way.” Leia sighed. “Come on, let’s get you settled in your room, you’ve got a big day tomorrow.” 


	2. Twin Suns Squadron

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm finally back home which means I can finally get back to my writing! It was so hard to balance writing and traveling and being with my family but now that I'm home, I'll be back to being a writing machine! I hope you guys like this chapter, I originally intended for it to be a bit different, but I like how it turned out a bit better ;)

    Rey had to admit that the beds at the base were far more comfortable than the beds she had slept on at Luke’s Academy, she was almost tempted to actually sleep in since she had no actual assignment today, but she knew she wouldn’t sleep - she hadn’t slept in late since she was a kid after all - and Rey decided it would be best to just get on with the day and see what her mother wanted to have a meeting about with all pilots on the base. Rey already had a plan of attack for the day, she was the new pilot on the base, not to mention the daughter of the two Generals, Han Solo and Leia Organa, and if that wasn’t bad enough, being strong with the Force made her just as much of an outcast as her brother. Her original plan was to eat breakfast in the cafeteria with Ben, but seeing no sign of him, she sat in the corner by herself, trying to enjoy her meal and pretend she wasn’t getting the occasional intruding thoughts in her head from others such as  _ ‘That’s her, that’s General Solo and General Organa’s daughter’ _ or  _ ‘She’s one of Luke Skywalker’s apprentices, shouldn’t she have a lightsaber?’ _ . 

 

    Once she was done she got out of the cafeteria as quickly as she could, thankfully she went unnoticed, and tried to find somewhere to hide until the supposed big meeting later in the day. Her favorite hiding place was always out by her ship, she’d mess around with it - see what needed to be tuned up or fixed or what could be upgraded - for as long as she’d been able to fly, her ships had always been her safe haven. This X-Wing in particular had been a gift specifically from Luke as a going away present of sorts, and with the few supporters that there were of the Resistance at the moment, it was a gift that was gravely needed. Ever since Luke gave her the X-Wing, she started thinking about possibly getting a little droid companion, someone to follow her around on adventures just as BB-8 said he did with his master. Maybe someday she’d actually get around to finding a little droid, though she doubted that day would come around anytime soon. 

 

    “Nice ship.” She heard a voice chime in just as she reached the cockpit, Rey looked down to see none other than Poe Dameron standing below her, out of uniform and in his flight suit, looking like he was either going on a patrol or just came back from one. 

 

    “Thanks.” Rey mumbled down, trying to appear busy with something in front of her and hoping that Poe would walk away. 

 

    “I’ve heard a lot about you, you know that?” Poe asked, capturing her curiosity for a moment before trying to appear busy again. 

 

    “Oh really?” Rey asked. 

 

    “It’s hard not to hear stories about the General's daughter, especially if she happens to be a Jedi and a pilot.” Poe commented. 

 

    “Well, from my experience, it’s hard not to hear about Commanders while living on the other side of the galaxy.” Rey snipped. 

 

    “Am I sensing some hostility, Solo?” Poe asked, and when Rey glanced down she saw a smirk on his face that made her blood boil. 

 

    “Forget it.” Rey sighed. “You’re the Commander, don’t you have someone you should be commanding right now?” 

 

    “I guess it’s true what they say about Skywalkers,” Poe sighed. “You’re all a bit hotheaded.” 

 

    “Am not!” Rey snapped now, her attention fully focused on Poe, and once she saw that damn smile on his face again she knew that’s  _ exactly _ what he wanted - her full attention. “Nerf-herder.” She mumbled under her breath as she sat back down in the cockpit again. 

 

    “Is that any way to talk to a Commander, pilot?” Poe questioned. 

 

    “You’re right.” Rey said. “I’m sorry that you’re such a laser brain,  _ Commander _ .” Rey grinned, and much to her surprise, Poe just kept smiling, seeming to take nothing she said to heart. 

 

    “Alright, well, whenever you’re done thinking up new names to call me, I was going to ask if you could take a look at my X-Wing for me.” Poe said. 

 

    Rey glared at him curiously. “Why me?” 

 

    “Because I’ve heard you’re pretty good with these ships, and for some reason deep down I’m hoping we can get past the name calling and reach normal human conversation.” Poe said. “Unless you can only communicate through insults and challenges.” 

 

    “Funny.” Rey rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. “When do you want me to look at it?” 

 

    “After the meeting this afternoon if that’s alright.” Poe said. 

 

    “Sure, whatever you say, Commander.” Rey shrugged. 

 

    “The name is Poe by the way, you don’t have to actually call me Commander.” Poe assured her with a gentle and genuine grin before giving her a wave goodbye and taking his leave. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    The meeting was due to start any minute now, and all the pilots for the Resistance - which happened to be not that many at the moment - had gathered around the holo table in the control room. Most of the pilots were surrounding Poe, either talking to him or the others that seemed to flock around him, Ben sat off alone apart from the rest of them, lost in his own thoughts and very focused on blocking Rey out of his head which meant he didn’t want to talk at all, which left Rey standing alone, trying her best not to appear so desperately out of place. When one of the pilots started walking over to her, she actually started to panic a bit, not knowing what to do or what to say to them, much less what they wanted to say to her. 

 

    “You must be the new pilot,” The girl stated right away with a smile on her face and no hesitation whatsoever, Rey generally tried to stay out of people’s heads, but she could still get a good read on people and from what she could tell from the pilot before her was that she was actually being genuine right now. “I’m Jessika Pava, but you can just call me Jess.” She held her hand out for Rey to shake. 

 

    “I’m Rey Solo.” Rey replied and shook her hand, waiting to see her expression shift from hearing her last name and realizing who she was, but Jess didn’t. She kept her smile, her mood didn’t change, and in fact she seemed a bit more relaxed, leaning up against the holo table and facing Rey - ready to have a conversation. 

 

    “We haven’t gotten a new pilot around here since your brother, it’s always good to see more pilots coming in, we could use the help.” Jess said. “I hear you’re pretty good, and a certain little droid told me that you wanna race Poe, good luck beating him, I’ve raced him a couple of times and somehow he still beats me and the rest of the squadron.” She laughed a bit. 

 

    “Well, it sounds like someone needs to take that title away from him.” Rey said confidently and Jess’s smile only seemed to grow. 

 

    “Please do, I’ll be rooting for you, it’s about time someone dethroned him as the champion.” Jess grinned. 

 

    Rey was starting to notice a few of the people in the control room glancing over at her, then quickly looking away and pretending to be working and unknowingly making Rey a bit uncomfortable. 

 

    “Don’t worry about them, it’s just not that often that we get a Jedi around. It took people a while to get used to your brother, they’ll get used to you too.” Jess assured her. “Especially if you end Poe’s winning streak, they have to suffer through his bragging too.” 

 

    Before Rey could respond, her mother walked into the room, all pilots immediately looking to her, but none could sense the stress rolling off of her in waves like Rey could. It made her worry about what could have gone wrong now, her mother had given her updates in her time away, the updates mostly consisting of the New Republic continuing to decline helping the Resistance since they didn’t think the First Order was a major threat yet, and Rey had a feeling that it was another rejection Leia had received after her most recent trip to speak with the Senate last week to discuss the new supposed weapon the First Order was building. 

 

    “Any news from the Republic, General?” Poe asked right away. 

 

    “Not any good news, they’re still not going to send anymore pilots over to us, and continuing to make matters worse, they’ve also said that no pilot from the Resistance or any member of the Resistance can go to the Academy to recruit prospective pilots and soldiers.” Leia sighed.

 

    “So they’re just abandoning us?” Jessika spoke up beside Rey. 

 

    “They just don’t think that the First Order is a threat, and with no proof of the weapon they’re supposedly building, they’re not willing to let anymore of their pilots and soldiers go. They’re still allowed to come to us of their own free will, but we can’t go looking for them in the New Republic anymore.” Leia stated. “But, I didn’t just call you all here for bad news, I have some good news too. We have enough pilots for now to keep up the Red and Blue Squadrons, and as of right now I’m disbanding the Black Squadron.” 

 

     “What?” Poe asked right away as worried murmurs erupted from all the other pilots. 

 

    “I’m disbanding it to form a new squadron.” Leia continued. “It’s an experiment really, but I think it’ll work. Snap, Karé, Jessika, L’ulo, and Oddy, you are now known as the Twin Suns Squadron.” 

 

    “It’s a bit catchier than just being called Black Squadron.” Jessika shrugged. 

 

    “Poe and Rey, congratulations, you two are both going to be the Commanders of the Twin Suns Squadron.” Leia announced. 

 

    All the pilots of the new squadron looked directly at Rey, but there was no hostility or questioning looks in their eyes, in fact Rey thought they seemed a bit excited and happy at the thought of a difference in leadership, even Poe seemed content with the outcome which surprised Rey. 

 

    “And you two better start coordinating some plans, because the first mission I’m giving this squadron is to find physical proof of this weapon the First Order is building, preferably without being caught.” Leia said. 

 

    “We’ll do our best, General.” Poe seemed to speak for both himself and Rey in that moment, his eyes still locked on her. 

 

    “I know all of you will.” Leia nodded. “You’re all free to go; Red Squadron, I want you to go on a quick patrol of D’Qar, make sure there’s no sign of any trouble around. Twin Suns, let me know when you have a plan and when you plan on leaving.” 

 

    With that, the groups of pilots started conversation with one another again, Jess turning her attention back to Rey as one of the other female pilots in the new squadron walked up to them as well. But Rey caught a glimpse of Ben walking over towards their mother, catching her in a conversation before she left, and all Rey could feel coming from them was tension and sadness. 

 

    “Rey, this is Karé.” Jess introduced her as Rey and Karé shook hands. 

 

    “It’s about time there was a female Commander around here.” Karé smiled. “Dameron was just having all of the fun for a while there.” 

 

    “I hope I don’t screw up.” Rey mumbled, the nerves setting in on her now, she had never been the Commander of anything before, and while she appreciated her mother's faith in her, that didn’t keep her from worrying. 

 

    “You’ll be fine, if the General trusts you to be a leader, then we trust you. But hey, we were new too once, if you ever want to talk something over with us you’re more than welcome too.” Jess offered. 

 

    “Thanks.” Rey said, surprised by the kindness she was already being shown despite only being here for a day so far. 

 

    Before their conversation could continue, Rey was interrupted by the sudden wave of anger that hit her and the source was none other than Ben. She turned around just in time to see him walking out of the control room and her mother walking away with a look of deep concern on her face - something had happened though she wasn’t sure what. 

 

    “We’re gonna go grab a drink down at the Cantina, do you care to join?” Karé asked her. 

 

    “I’d like to, but maybe some other time, I have to go check on my brother.” Rey was chewing on her bottom lip now, her worry getting to her again. 

 

    “Go ahead, we’ll see you around.” Jess told her as Rey said her goodbyes and walked off after her brother, wondering what had just happened between him and their mother. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey scanned the entire base for Ben and failed at finding him; not only was he shutting her out, but he seemed to be using their bond to keep track of her and avoid her wherever she went. Finding no one from her family or Ben, Rey gave up and dragged herself into the cafeteria late, grabbing dinner with the other members of the base who were a little behind and looked exhausted. Rey was trying to figure out a plan for approaching Ben and seeing what was wrong when someone sat down right in front of her and interrupted her train of thought. 

 

    “You stood me up today.” Poe stated, a slight smirk on his face. 

 

    “What?” Rey asked in confusion. 

 

    “My X-Wing, I waited out there and everything, I even saw you walking around the base a few times but you looked pretty wrapped up in something else.” Poe shrugged. 

 

    “Oh...shit, sorry.” Rey sighed. “I didn’t mean to do that, surprisingly. I was looking for my brother but he was avoiding me, but then again he’s been doing that for a while so I don’t see why me being here should be any different.” 

 

    “Ah, I see.” Poe nodded. 

 

    “I’ll go look at your ship once I’m done eating.” Rey offered. 

 

    “No, don’t worry about it tonight, I’ll hold you to it tomorrow morning though before we start coordinating a plan.” Poe said with a grin. 

 

    “Okay.” Rey had to admit she was a bit relieved, she had walked all over the entire base and was actually a bit tired. 

 

    “So when do you wanna have that race?” Poe questioned. 

 

    “Race? Oh, right, the race.” Rey remembered. “I’ll race you anytime, anywhere, flyboy.” She smirked. 

 

    “Alright, tomorrow evening before dinner. Loser has to buy the winner a drink.” Poe said, a twinge of cockiness in his voice. 

 

    “Fine, you’re on.” Rey agreed. 

  
    “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Poe rose from his seat. “I look forward to you buying me a drink.” He winked at her before walking off, leaving Rey to stare at him in disbelief and roll her eyes as just how much irritating confidence Poe Dameron had. 


	3. Brother Ben

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Is it possible to get addicted to writing your own fic? Because I'm pretty sure I have with this one :3 @18tpaz keeps telling me all these awesome storylines that happened in the EU and it's giving me so much inspiration, I get so excited to write the next chapter of this fic!! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it, let me know if you like it! ;)

_ 10 years ago _

  
  


    It was bad enough when she was born, suddenly there was a new baby in the house and all everyone ever paid attention to was her, shortly after she was born though, Ben was almost thankful to be sent off to Uncle Luke for training. But then a few months ago she followed him here, his parents found out that Rey had the Force as well and shipped her off to Uncle Luke too. Now she was here, following him wherever he went, wanting to spend all of her time with him, and all Ben wanted was a moment of peace away from her. However, he had to admit that he felt horrible after snapping at her the way he had this morning, she just kept asking him and asking him - to go meditate with her, to teach her to fly, to practice with her - seeming to have no regard for the fact of that she was only nine and he was already nineteen and further ahead in his training than she was. He shouted at her, told her to go away and bother somebody else, all his anger unleashing on his little sister, and it was in that moment that he felt something so strongly that Rey felt; she was hurt, sad, she wanted to cry but refused to cry in front of him and instead ran off sniffling, him feeling her sadness overcome him when she finally did cry in peace. 

 

    “She’s alright now.” Luke came up from behind him, already knowing what was happening and seeming to already know how he felt. “I’m having her meditate with the other kids to calm herself down. She’s a lot like you, she’s very...passionate with her emotions.” 

 

    “Yeah.” Ben mumbled. 

 

    “Rey just wants to be like you, that’s why she follows you and wants to train with you, you’re her big brother - she looks up to you. All she wants to do is be like the person she loves most.” Luke explained. 

 

    “She’s just always there anymore.” Ben admitted with a sigh. “I just wanted a minute to breath without her there and...I shouldn’t have yelled at her like I did.” 

 

    “No, but we all let our tempers get the best of us from time to time, part of becoming a Jedi is learning to control that, to keep a level and clear mind. You still have much training to go through Ben, I don’t expect you to be controlled all the time, no one can do that.” Luke sighed. “I also don’t really know what it’s like to grow up with a sister - by the time I found Leia we were already about your age, past all of this that you’re going through with Rey, but be grateful for it. One day when she’s older, she won’t be like this, she’ll be her own person, but she’ll still look up to you, you two just might even become friends when she’s older.” Luke smirked. 

 

    Ben stayed silent, observing the nature that surrounded them on the planet, all green grass, overgrown trees, and water as far as the eye could see. It was a good place to meditate up here, it was Luke’s place usually and he’d only shared the spot with Ben so far, he imagined when Rey was older he’d let her come up here too. 

 

    “I told her to give you some space, that you’ll go to her once you’ve cooled down. I’ll keep her busy until you want to see her.” Luke gave him a pat on the shoulder before heading back towards the temple, leaving Ben with his thoughts again. 

 

    Ben meditated for almost an hour by the time he head back towards the temple. Luke had all the little kids practicing with staffs at the moment, Rey more than proud when she knocked her opponent down. When she saw Ben standing on the side of the field, she hesitated for a moment before walking over to him slowly, her head hung low and not looking him in the eyes. 

 

    “Are you still mad at me?” She mumbled, looking down at her feet. 

 

    “No, I’m not.” Ben said and kneeled down to her height, causing her to look up at him, that sad look still in her hazel eyes. “I’m sorry I snapped at you the way I did, I shouldn’t have done that.” 

 

    “I’m sorry I aggravated you, I just wanted to be with you...I miss mom and dad.” Rey said, her eyes watering up a bit. 

 

    “Hey, don’t cry again.” Ben said and brought Rey closer for a hug. “Do you want to go visit mom and dad? I can fly us out there if Uncle Luke lets us, I can teach you how to fly too along the way.” 

 

    “Really?” Rey asked excitedly, her eyes lighting up. 

 

    “Yeah.” Ben nodded. “Come on, let’s go see if we can go make a visit.” He stood up to his full height, already more like a mountain compared to Rey and even Luke, and held out his hand for her to take. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


_ Present Day _

  
  


    Rey was surprised to see Ben just sitting on top of the small hill just outside of the base, he was clearly meditating, everything seeming to be at peace with him for the moment, and Rey decided to take her chances and go approach him. Rey sat down beside him, surprised that Ben didn’t even flinch, and started trying to meditate, only she was never that good at meditating - a few minutes into it, she was squirming and fidgeting, causing Ben to look at her. 

 

    “You never liked meditating, did you?” He asked with the twinge of an amused smile on his face. 

 

    “No, not really.” Rey giggled. “I could focus for a bit but then I start thinking of all the other things I could be doing and...well, it makes it hard to sit still.” 

 

    “I don’t know how you focus at all, then again, you always seemed to focus while flying.” Ben pointed out. 

 

    “It’s different when I’m flying, I don’t know how or why but it just is.” Rey shrugged. “Can I ask you something?” 

 

    “Sure.” Ben said. 

 

    “Are you mad at me?” Rey asked. 

 

    “You think I’m mad at you?” Ben questioned. 

 

    “When I came here it was like there was this static between us, I haven’t been able to get a good read on you until this morning, and yesterday I’m pretty sure you were avoiding me after you walked out of the control room.” Rey stated. 

 

    “I was never very good at controlling my emotions.” Ben sighed, turning towards Rey now. “I’m not mad at you, if we’re being honest, I’m a bit jealous of you, but I’m not mad at you. The day you came here I was up in the Falcon with dad, all he did was talk about you and your flying and how well you controlled the Falcon. And yesterday...well, I was in Black Squadron, when mom didn’t say anything about me being in Twin Suns with you and Dameron, I asked her about it and she is reassigning me to intel.” 

 

    “What? That’s crazy, you’re an amazing pilot, I wouldn’t even know the first thing about flying if it weren’t for you.” Rey said. “And mom, she must have a good reason for putting you in intel.” 

 

    “Thanks.” Ben sighed. “And I talked to her this morning, she said she put me there because I’ve always been good at getting in people’s heads, that if I went out into the field and found someone who knows more about the First Order weapon that I’d be able to easily get information out of them.” 

 

    “She’s not wrong there, you’ve always been much better at the mind tricks than me.” Rey smirked. “So...does that mean you’re going out on a mission soon?” 

 

    “In a few days, it’ll be just me, and it’ll be dangerous, but it’s easier for one person to blend in instead of a group.” Ben explained. 

 

    “Well, whatever you find will help us out there too.” Rey said. “You’ll be great out there, I know it.” 

 

    Ben gave a slight smile and nodded, looking back out to the peaceful scenery that surrounded the base before turning back to Rey. “So how are things going with Dameron? Has he gotten on your nerves yet?” 

 

   “He has been since the day I met him.” Rey groaned. “But I’m racing him later on today, somebody has to knock him down a peg or two. You know...it’d be nice if you came to the race later to cheer me on.” 

 

    “I’ll think about it.” Ben laughed. “But I would love to watch you put Dameron in his place.” 

 

    “Feel free to stop by later then.” Rey grinned as she got up to her feet and started to walk away. 

 

    “Where are you going?” Ben asked. 

 

    “To...look over my ship before the race.” Rey quickly lied, Ben wasn’t trying to pry into her head at the moment, and she hoped he wouldn’t try. He more than likely wouldn’t understand why she was going to go look over Poe’s ship, she honestly didn’t know why she was doing so either, but she didn’t need to question it right now, she just wanted to get it over with. 

 

    “Alright, have fun.” Ben called out to her. “Kick his ass for me.” 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    “Well, I see it was acting up on you, the transmission on this thing is just about fried. As a fellow pilot, I’m a bit disappointed that you didn’t find this first.” Rey said with a twinge of a smirk as she tore out the old transmission, climbing down from the inside of the X-Wing, and starting to head back towards the parts room. 

 

    “Really?” Poe asked. “I just looked at that a few weeks ago, why is it acting up again?” 

 

    “From the looks of it you must have pushed it a lot, there’s some blaster damage on here too.” She pointed out the melted knicks that were in it. 

 

    “Damn it, that must have come from my last mission, they were hot and heavy with those cannons.” Poe sighed as he fell into place beside her. “Thanks for looking at this for me, I mean, I could do it myself but...uh, it helps to have some help.” 

 

    “No problem. I wouldn’t want to have the unfair advantage in the race, I want to beat you fair and square.” Rey stated, starting to look through all the parts, half of them still new in the box, and trying to find the right transmission for the X-Wing. 

 

    “Even with the faulty transmission I could still beat you.” Poe stated, Rey knew he was trying to get a rise out of her, that seemed to be part of who he was, and while Rey was tempted to fire back, she kept her comments to herself and decided to just finish the job. 

 

    “Here it is.” Rey pulled a new transmission out, taking the old one with her still. 

 

    “What are you keeping that for? You said it yourself that it’s shot.” Poe asked curiously. 

 

    “I know, but who knows, maybe it could be made useful again or turned into something else, I like finding a new life for broken things.” Rey shrugged as she stuffed the old transmission in her bag that she left on ground. “I’ll fiddle around with it later.” 

 

    “You’re pretty crafty, huh?” Poe asked. 

 

    “I learned from my Uncle. He grew up on Tatooine, you had to be crafty to live there.” Rey grumbled as she climbed back up into the X-Wing, squeezing back into the tight place she was before as she started to re-install the transmission. 

 

    It was silent for a moment between them while Rey worked, until the familiar beeping of the little droid - BB-8 - began to chirp up; and Rey had to admit that for a droid he had quite the personality, something she’d only seen in R2-D2 before. 

 

_ [Friend-Poe, I like Friend-Rey very much. She is very kind and very smart!] _ BB-8 announced, causing Rey to laugh a bit.  _ [Will we see Friend-Rey more? You talk about her a lot but we do not see her a lot.] _

 

     “Uh, sure buddy.” She heard Poe mumble to his droid. 

 

    Rey imagined that most of his talk about her to BB-8 was subtle complaints or smart remarks that the sweet little droid wouldn’t comprehend. After all, her showing up made him a Co-Commander of sorts, no longer the sole Commander of his own squadron. 

 

    “You’re droid is adorable, when did you get him? He certainly has more personality than most of the other droids.” Rey called down. 

 

    “Oh I’ve had Beebee-Ate since I was part of the Republic, sometime right after I got out of the Academy.” Poe answered. “He’s been by my side ever since.” 

 

    “And I imagine the custom paint job was done to match the flightsuit.” Rey said. 

 

    “Yeah, he flies with me almost all the time, I didn’t want him to feel left out.” Poe laughed a bit. 

 

    “Alright, well, it’s in there, everything should work just fine now.” Rey announced as she climbed out of the X-Wing, landing on her feet with skill and grace, and grabbing her bag before throwing it over her shoulder and making her way to leave. 

 

    “Thanks.” Poe said. “So, I’ll see you at the race later?” 

 

    “I’ll be there, I hope you’re ready to lose, Commander.” Rey called out to him as she walked away. 

 

    “I hope you’re ready to buy me a drink, Solo!” He yelled back to her, a cocky grin on his face.

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey won the race by a hair, she didn’t know how she did it, but she pulled out in front of Poe just in time and won. Jessika, Karé, and Ben had been cheering for her and the girls squeezed her so tightly when she climbed out of her X-Wing that it was almost hard to breathe for a moment. Even Ben broke down and gave Rey a quick hug and a smile, Rey feeling more than proud now to have actually won the race. The guys came over and congratulated Rey as well, saying that they couldn’t wait to fly with her out on a mission, and once everyone had started heading back towards the base, Poe finally walked over to her, his helmet under his arm and BB-8 in tow. He didn’t look like a person who had lost, from the smile on his face he looked like a person who had won and Rey couldn’t understand why. 

 

    “What has you smiling?” Rey asked curiously. 

 

    “It’s good to know I have a great pilot on my side, I wouldn’t want to be against you again with moves like that.” Poe said. 

 

    “Oh...thanks.” Rey felt a bit awkward, she hadn’t expected Poe to give her compliments like that, especially after all the times she had poked and prodded at him. “I believe you owe me a drink, Commander.” 

 

    “I do.” Poe nodded. “Want to head out now? There’s a cantina not far from the base, we all go there all the time.” 

 

    “Sounds good to me.” Rey said. 

 

    It didn’t take them long to get out of their flight suits and head towards the cantina, the place brimming with Resistance and citizens of D’Qar. Poe bought her the promised drink, and unknown to Rey, kept buying the rest of her drinks as the two actually talked. Rey was surprised when she realized that she was actually enjoying herself and their conversation, instead of finding Poe annoying or grating as she had the first two days. 

 

    “So, you’re a Jedi, huh?” Poe asked, finishing the last of his third drink, and though Rey could tell he wasn’t drunk, he had a certain flush creeping up on him that was all too common in those on their way to being drunk. 

 

    “Sort of.” Rey sighed. “My brother is way better than me, he’s had years more training than I have. There are things about the Force I don’t even know yet; but my Uncle knew that my mom needed the help here with the Resistance since the New Republic wasn’t being as helpful as they could be - especially now. So he sent me off, and he promised that when he finally made his way over here to the base once his other padawans were safe that he would finish my training. For now though, other than my Uncle, Ben is the only fully trained Jedi.” 

 

    “I haven’t seen you fight with the Force, but I’ve seen your brother, and if you're half as good as him I’d say you’re one hell of a Jedi already.” Poe reassured her. 

 

    “Maybe someday that’ll be true.” Rey gave a small smile before finishing her fourth drink, feeling the same buzz coming over her now only Rey knew she was well on her way to drunk. 

 

    “You want another one?” Poe pointed to her empty glass as he got his refilled. 

 

    “No thank you, I’m good. If I drink anymore I’ll be late to practice tomorrow.” Rey laughed, feeling her cheeks getting hot while a slight hot flash started to take over her, the full effects of her drinking kicking in. “I better get going before walking becomes difficult.” Rey mumbled as she climbed off of her barstool, getting a bit unsteady and Poe catching her before she tipped over, the two a little too close together. 

 

    “You okay?” Poe asked, a glimpse of concern in his dark brown eyes and Rey becoming alarmingly aware of how close he was to her face and how handsome he looked in this dim lighting. 

 

    “Yeah, I’m fine.” Rey said, pulling herself out of Poe’s arms as soon as she knew she could trust her balance. “Like I said, I should cut myself off.” 

 

    “I’ll walk you back to base.” Poe said, getting off of his barstool as well and putting his money on the bar. 

 

    “I can go by myself, what about your drink?” Rey asked, pointing towards the untouched glass. 

 

    “I don’t need it, and I know you can walk back by yourself, but I wouldn’t be able to sit here and drink knowing that I let you walk back alone, in the dark, back to the base. The General would kill me.” Poe gave a small laugh. 

 

    “Which one?” Rey asked with a bit of a smirk. 

 

    “Both really now that I think about it.” Poe smiled in return. “Come on, sunshine, let’s get you back in one piece.” 

 

    “My name is Rey, you know.” Rey protested. 

 

    “I’ll start calling you your name when you start calling me mine.” Poe said. 

 

    “Fine, thank you for walking back to base with me,  _ Poe _ .” Rey sighed. 

 

    “Anytime,  _ Rey _ .” Poe replied. 

  
    Rey didn’t know why, but she thought the way he said her name had a nice ring to it, and she hoped that she would get to hear him say her name more often. 


	4. When Fire Meets Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Alright, so here's chapter four! I was ready to jump into this chapter and give these two their first little spat, because when it comes to flying, of course they're going to have their differences, especially for Rey who has never been in a squadron before! So I hope you guys like this chapter, let me know if you do ;)

    Everything she was doing was wrong, at least according to Poe; every maneuver she tried, every plan she made, it was all wrong. She wasn’t allowed to break apart from the formation - even if they were being shot at, she wasn’t allowed to order everyone together because they covered more ground apart, and most of all, she wasn’t allowed to be reckless because it risked her life and anyone who went after her. By the time they landed, Rey was furious, she felt so limited and felt as if he were treating her like a soldier when she was in fact herself a Commander as well now. Rey climbed out of her X-Wing and as soon as her feet hit the ground, she stormed towards Poe, her anger getting the better of her as she nearly walked up and slapped him, settling for yelling at him instead. 

 

    “What is your problem?” Rey snapped as soon as his feet hit the ground. 

 

    “My problem? I should be asking you that question, clearly you’ve never been part of a squadron a day in your life! It’s more than just your life out there, it’s everybody's! You can’t just go flying around doing what you think is right, there are other people out there directly affected by your actions!” Poe snapped, clearly just as irate as Rey. 

 

    “And what if my actions save them?” Rey asked. 

 

    “You should be thinking about if your actions get them killed!” Poe shouted. “Typical jedi.” He scoffed under his breath, but it was enough for Rey to hear and understand. 

 

    “Excuse me?  _ Typical Jedi?” _ She hissed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

    “It means that you think because you have all this power that you can do whatever you think is right, without thinking about the people out there dying because of your decision!” Poe replied. “You need to know the consequences of your actions!” 

 

    Rey stood there for a moment in a bit of shock, she always knew what people thought about her being what she was, but no one had ever said it out loud to her, no one had ever pointed out how reckless she was in flight or how willing she was to throw caution to the wind. “You’re in a battle, what if you need to break apart from your precious plan to save your skin?” Rey questioned. 

 

    “That’s different.” Poe stated. “Bailing out of a dangerous situation is different from flying headfirst into danger and getting more gunfire on you than you and your squad can handle. You don’t know the first thing about squadron combat, you’re thinking like it’s just you out there, it’s not like that anymore! I’m grounding you to the base until you go over the maneuvers and know them like the back of your hand.” 

 

    “What?!” Rey snapped. “You can’t do that! I’m a Commander too, you can’t just ground me.” 

 

    “Seniority, you’ve been a Commander for three days and have no previous commanding knowledge, I’ve been a Commander for two years. I’ll go get any General sign the official papers if you want that so badly, but you’re grounded until I know you can go up there and not get yourself and everyone else killed.” Poe said.  

 

    “Screw you, Dameron.” Rey mumbled before walking away from him, clenching her fists tightly and resisting every part of her that wanted to use the Force on him. 

 

    She knew it was wrong, she had been taught that using the Force during extreme emotions like this was very wrong from day one. But that knowledge never took the temptation away, especially when she was angry, and she knew her brother suffered from the same problem. Everyone would always whisper it around her, even her parents during hushed arguments - they had too much Vader in them - her and Ben were too emotional for their own good sometimes, and it made her feel like a ticking time bomb. But Rey was determined not to give them anything else to talk about, she was in control of herself and her emotions, and she wasn’t about to let Poe Dameron get the best of her. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    There was one place in the entire galaxy that Rey could find solace whenever she felt horrible, and it was always in the Millennium Falcon. The ship her father sat her behind before she was even old enough to talk, the ship she went on her first adventure in, the ship held many good memories for Rey, and those very memories calmed her when nothing else could. Poe Dameron was frustrating, easily the most frustrating person she had ever met in her life, first he insulted her and then he grounded her. 

 

    “Moof milker.” Rey mumbled under her breath in frustration, opening up one of the hatches in the Falcon and deciding to look over it, seeing if any work needed to be done, and with the Falcon usually something always had to be done. 

 

    The longer Rey worked on the Falcon, the more she tried to rationalize the fight, she supposed Poe had a point - actually, he had a very valid point. She had never flown in a squadron before, she vaguely understood the protocols and the hundreds of names for them, and she had to admit, she thought all of them flying together would have been wiser than spreading out, but given the few people in their squadron compared to the hundreds in the First Order, it was smarter to spread out and distract the attention, dragging them out on a wild goose chase and trying to thin them out instead of giving them a big target to shoot at. It must have been hours she spent sitting in the Falcon, and when she pulled herself out and heard the bridge opening up, she figured it was probably her father coming to check on his beloved ship. 

 

    “Dad, the capacitor was looking a little faulty so I fixed it up for you.” Rey announced before she realized who was entering the ship - it was Poe, still in his flight suit, and for some reason no longer looking mad but almost a little sad. “Oh, uh, sorry.” Rey mumbled as she climbed the rest of the way out of the hatch and stood up in front of him. “Did you come here looking for my dad or something?” 

 

    “No, I uh, I came here looking for you. Threepio told me where you went.” Poe was hesitating a bit, the first time she’d ever seen the cocky pilot look a bit unsure. 

 

    “Oh.” Rey stated, trying to avoid his gaze. “I’m sorry about earlier, I...you’re right. I didn’t know enough before going up there, and I don’t know the first thing about being in a squadron.” 

 

   “We can work on that.” Poe surprised her by saying, and Rey catching the glimpse of a faint smile on his face. “I came here to apologize for what I said to you earlier, about the Jedi thing...I didn’t mean that.” Poe sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I just, I guess I don’t really understand you guys all the way.” 

 

    “We can work on that.” Rey smirked and this time saw Poe grin fully. 

 

    “Well, if you have some free time, Commander Solo, I think I could go over the plans with you in the control room.” Poe stated, his cocky grin returned. 

 

    “I believe I have some time, Commander Dameron.” Rey countered. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Poe took his time with her, explaining all the different maneuvers and why he was planning all of this out the way he was. Poe had years of experience on her, clearly someone who had been flying since the day he was born, and Rey couldn’t help but admire that a bit. She had been around flying since she was young as well, but never truly learned until her brother taught her and her father readily joined in on the lessons. Rey found herself listening to every word, really trying to take in not only what it meant to be part of a team now, but what it meant to be a Commander, and no one was more passionate about that then Poe Dameron. 

 

    “Thanks for explaining all of that to me, I’ve always been pretty terrible with not studying, my parents, uncle, and pretty much everyone else that ever tried to teach me anything all learned that the hard way.” Rey laughed a bit, leaning forward on the control console that was still projecting the practice maps Poe had pulled up. 

 

    “No problem.” Poe grinned. “I was like you once.” 

 

    “No, not you.” Rey said a bit sarcastically that got Poe to laugh. 

 

    “Yes, right out of the Academy, I didn’t want to pay attention to any of their boring rules and, well, everyone’s gotta learn sometime, right?” Poe asked. 

 

    “I have to admit you do have a point.” Rey sighed. “When did you learn to fly?” She asked out of the blue. 

 

    “I was about 7 or 8.” Poe said. “You?” 

 

    “I was 9.” Rey smirked. 

 

    “Late bloomer?” Poe asked with a bit of a laugh. 

 

    “Hey! I was not. I just happened to be in training when I was 7 and 8 and didn’t get to learn until I was 9.” Rey protested, walking around the console just to give Poe a playful punch in the arm. 

 

    “You fly pretty good for a late bloomer.” Poe continued to pick at her which somehow only made Rey a bit more playful, for once she found his challenges endearing instead of grating and she didn’t know entirely why, just that it felt different from all the other times over the past few days that already felt like weeks. 

 

    “You’re a pretty good Commander for a laser brain.” Rey countered. 

 

    “Thanks.” Poe laughed. 

 

   There was a moment between them when their eyes met, a bit of a spark, almost a connection of sorts, and Rey swore that she felt something stirring in her mind that wasn’t her own thoughts. It felt almost like something was pulling her closer to him, glancing down at his lips and thinking about just how it might feel to kiss his smart mouth and stop those remarks and render him speechless. When she started wondering how his hands would feel on her waist, Rey pulled away and tried to collect her thoughts from wandering down a road that would be hard to come back from in the middle of the base. 

 

    “I should go, I wanted to spend some time with my brother before he leaves tomorrow.” Rey made the excuse, though it was true that she wanted to see Ben at least a bit more before he left for his dangerous missions. 

 

    “Alright.” Poe nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow for practice then?” 

 

    “Am I not grounded anymore?” Rey asked. 

 

    “More like you’re on parole, but I trust you out there.” Poe said. 

 

    “Good enough for me.” Rey giggled. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Poe.” 

  
    “See you tomorrow, Rey.” Poe replied with a grin. 


	5. Dameron's Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So if you like reading this fic, which I hope you do since we're up to chapter five now, you'll be happy to know that I'm really focused on writing this. I'll be writing other things in-between still, but this is so my main focus, it's captured my imagination and I've been writing for this fic pretty much non-stop! This chapter is a lot longer than the last one, which I hope it makes up for that ones shortness :P And of course there are some cute flirty little Damerey moments, but this chapter also holds a huge milestone for Rey! Hint: It's Jedi related ;)

    Rey had been apart from Ben before, it wasn’t something new for them to be separated; they were separated by a decade of age, Ben went to Luke first for training and left well before she did, it seemed like they were always just barely missing one another. Rey had hoped to spend some more time with her brother than she got, but instead everything else got in the way as usual, and now she was standing there on the tarmac among her family and fellow pilots, watching her brother say his goodbyes to their mother and father before reaching her. Ben walked over to to her and hovered in front of her for a minute, Rey never feeling smaller than she had in that moment, her big brother going off to go help the Resistance and leaving her to be the lone sibling again. 

 

    “I’ve got something for you.” Ben said as he reached behind him and pulled out a small black pouch, handing it to Rey who opened it up immediately and smiled once she realized what it was. It was a bright purple crystal, something she had been waiting to see for a very long time, since she hel a practice lightsaber in her hands for the first time. “Luke wanted to make sure that everyone who graduated was ready for a lightsaber, and while you got out a bit early, I talked to him about it and he said that you were ready. He thought you’d like the purple, you always used to talk about it when you were little.” Ben smiled. “The rest of the stuff is in my room, Luke sent it over along with the crystal for you to finally make your own lightsaber, it’s been long overdue if you ask me.” 

 

    Rey didn’t say a word, instead she just wrapped her arms around Ben and hugged him tightly, smiling when he hugged her back as well. “Thank you.” Rey mumbled as she pulled away, brushing away the tears that threatened to fall before they did, she was not going to let all these people she worked with see her cry. 

 

    “Use it wisely.” Ben said, quoting the same words Luke had told him when he got to create his lightsaber. 

 

    “I will, you’ll see it when you come back.” Rey said, making more of a threat to him that he better come back. 

 

    “I’m sure I will.” Ben assured her. “Be safe.” 

 

    “You too.” Rey replied. 

 

    Without any further goodbyes, Ben climbed into his X-Wing and left while everyone cheered him on, before he hit lightspeed and left D’Qar behind. 

 

    “Are you alright, Rey?” Leia asked now, resting her hand on Rey’s shoulder and knowing already that she wasn’t, feeling her disappointment through the Force. 

 

    “I’ll be fine.” Rey sighed. 

 

    “He’ll be alright, kid.” Han piped up. “Ben’s tough like you, he can handle anything they throw at him, blend in anywhere.” 

 

    “I know.” Rey nodded, feeling the threat of tears coming back. “I’m gonna go work on my lightsaber and maybe train a bit.” 

 

    “Okay.” Leia pressed a kiss to her daughter's forehead before she ran off, not knowing that there was a pair of dark brown eyes locked on her, wanting to comfort her but not exactly knowing how. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    It took Rey a couple of hours to complete her lightsaber the way she wanted it, but she finally had one at her side, still clipped to her as she made her way to the gym. She couldn’t wait to actually be able to test it out some time later today, it was a double ended lightsaber, just like she always wanted, with a violet purple blade that was rarely seen for crystal colors. Rey set the lightsaber aside on the floor of the empty gym before she started her workout, trying to blow off some steam by hitting the punching bags just as hard as she could. Rey had gotten so lost in her workout that she didn’t hear when someone opened up the door and quietly entered, actually sneaking up on her and startling her by placing their hand on her sweaty shoulder, causing her to punch the person in the gut and instantly regretting it once she realized it was Poe. 

 

    “Oh kriff, I’m so sorry!” Rey kneeled down to the floor where he was currently trying to deal with the sudden bolt of pain. “Are you okay?” 

 

    “I’ll be okay.” Poe groaned as he tried to get to his feet a bit more, Rey helping him up and noticing that he was actually dressed to work out too, he probably saw her in here and decided to say hi, only to be greeted to a suckerpunch to the gut. 

 

    “I’m so sorry, Poe.” Rey felt horrible now as she looked at him. 

 

    “It’s okay.” Poe laughed and offered a smirk once he was up to his feet. “I saw you in here and wanted to ask if you wanted to spar for a bit.” 

 

    “You want to fight with me after I just suckerpunched you?” Rey asked with a bit of disbelief. 

 

    “Well, I wasn’t exactly planning on getting suckerpunched.” Poe laughed. “But yes, I would still like to spar with you if you want?” 

 

    “Sure.” Rey shrugged. She hadn’t sparred with anyone in a long time, usually beating all of her opponents in the Academy and earning a reputation that meant no one wanted to fight her out of fear of getting beat up. She would have thought that Poe would have questioned sparring with her after that punch she delivered, but he was either determined or stupid, either way he’d find out that she may have been small, but she was strong as well. 

 

    They started out their sparring mostly dancing around one another, but eventually Poe was the first to go for a punch and Rey dodged it with ease, her agility giving her a slight advantage over him. Poe kept trying to land a hit and Rey kept dodging until she saw her opening and landed a hit on Poe’s side, weakening him a bit before kicking his feet out from under him and Poe landing on the mats with a bit of a groan. 

 

    “Are you okay?” Rey asked again, this time with a bit of a giggle. 

 

    “I’m fine.” Poe grumbled as he sat up, still smiling though and getting to his feet. “Let’s go again.” 

 

    Rey didn’t question it this time, she just got back into fighting stance and they continued their dance. The continued sparring for a while, Poe got in a few hits eventually, but Rey always knocked him down. During their last spar, Rey knocked him down with all her might and ended up straddling his lap, the both of them breathless and sweaty but for some reason laughing at each other. 

 

    “Alright, alright, you win.” Poe laughed, Rey feeling bad about the black eye she gave him that was now starting to become a bit more visible. 

 

    “You sure you don’t want ice or something for the eye?” Rey questioned, her hands cupping his face now absentmindedly, trying to get a better look at the eye. 

 

    “I’ll live, I’ve had worse.” Poe grinned, his hand reaching up and tucking a piece of stray hair that had fallen out of the bun in her hair behind her ear. 

 

     They were frozen there for a moment, just staring at one another, since when had the man who infuriated her started to make her stomach feel like it was doing backflips? That wasn’t supposed to happen. Sure, they were technically equals, but Rey still considered Poe her Commander since he had more of an idea of what she was doing and she felt like she had been added on afterwards. Not to mention he was older than her, she didn’t know by exactly how much, but surely old enough that he wouldn’t be interested in looking at a nineteen year old girl like her. Rey shifted her weight in his lap and was greeted by a more than unfamiliar feeling that caused her to try and casually climb off of him and pretend she hadn’t felt what she did, though it seemed to prove her theory of him not being interested in her as wrong. 

 

    “What’s that over there?” Poe was looking over towards her bag and the lightsaber hilt sitting beside it. 

 

    “Oh, that’s my lightsaber. I built it earlier after Ben gave me the crystal.” Rey announced proudly, picking it up and turning it on for Poe to see, the doubled-edged violet blade humming to life in her hands. 

 

    “Whoa, double edged, huh?” Poe questioned with a smirk as he sat up. “Those are rare.” 

 

    “I used to always love training with a staff when I was at the Academy and I always wanted a saber like this when I got older. The purple is pretty rare for lightsabers too, I know Luke and Ben must have looked for this for a long time.” Rey was all smile, spinning her lightsaber around with grace before turning it back off and clipping it to her hip. 

 

    “I’ve never seen one up close.” Poe said, getting up to his feet, but stopping in place as he noticed something sticking out of Rey’s bag. “What’s that?” 

 

    Rey’s cheeks flushed when she realized part of her doll was sticking out of the backpack. She rushed over and grabbed it stuffing the doll back in and throwing the bag over her shoulder. “Nothing.” She mumbled. 

 

    “What is it?” Poe asked with a bit of a laugh. 

 

    “It’s nothing.” Rey said again, her cheeks still red, and before she could stop him, Poe grabbed it from out of her bag and she had never felt more embarrassed. 

 

    “It’s a doll?” Poe questioned, looking at the little handmade doll that looked to have seen it’s fair share of time over the years. Noticing that it was made to look like a pilot, he couldn’t help but grin a bit. 

 

    “I made it when I was a kid, I always wanted to be a pilot and, well, I didn’t have many friends so...he was my friend.” Rey shrugged, her cheeks bright pink, and Poe thinking that it was more than endearing that Rey had kept the doll after all this time. 

 

    “I think it’s nice that you kept something like that after all these years.” Poe handed it back to her as she hugged it close to her chest before stuffing it away back in her bag. “And you do have friends now, you know that, right?” 

 

    “Yeah.” Rey nodded. “I know.” 

 

   “Sorry I just sorta grabbed it.” Poe admitted. 

 

    “No, it’s okay. I’ve sort of kept the doll a secret once I outgrew actually having dolls. It’s nice that someone knows and you haven’t actually made fun of me for still keeping it.” Rey said with a small smile. “Do you want to grab a drink?” 

 

    “You know, I think there’s something I’d actually rather do, but it’d only be possible to do with your help.” Poe said. 

 

    “What’s that?” Rey questioned. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    “Just around the planet.” Han grumbled, standing on the edge of the bridge to the Falcon, Chewie at his side. “No jumping into lightspeed to who knows where, no parking the ship and doing anything together-” 

 

    “Dad!” Rey hissed. 

 

    “That warning was for him, not for you, I know you’d kick his ass sweetheart.” Han assured her while he glared at Poe. “And so help me, if you put a scratch on this ship-” 

 

    “Dad, we get it.” Rey sighed. “Nothing is going to happen to the Falcon...or me.” She assured him and got on her tiptoes to give her dad a kiss on the cheek, which always made him just a bit less grumpy. She used to do it all the time when she was a little girl, having her father wrapped around her finger and always letting her do nearly anything she wanted, as long as Leia never found out. “We’ll be back before dinner, I promise.” 

 

    “...Alright.” Han sighed as he stepped off the bridge with Chewie. “Be careful.” 

 

    “We will.” Rey called back as she walked onto the ship with Poe in tow and closed the bridge to get ready for takeoff. “You better not to anything stupid in this ship, you have no idea how much I had to beg my dad to let you drive it.” 

 

    “I promise, just a small flight around the planet, that’s it.” Poe was grinning from ear to ear, he hadn’t stopped since Rey came to his room while he was icing down his eye a bit to say that she had managed to talk her dad into letting them go for a flight to make up for the black eye she gave him - apparently he only agreed because he was proud of her giving him a black eye. “I’ve been dying to fly this thing since I was a kid.” 

 

    “Your welcome.” Rey playfully punched him in the shoulder. 

 

    “Thank you.” Poe grinned, forgetting that he hadn’t actually said thank you yet to her for this. 

 

    “Come on,” Rey lead him to the cockpit of the ship and sat down in the co-pilot seat with ease, buckling herself in when she stopped and noticed Poe just standing there, taking it all in. She had been here many times, but for Poe it was a first, and she had to remember the first time she saw all of this when she was a child, it was amazing, and she knew how he must have felt - his childhood dream coming true after all these years. “You know, it’ll be even better when you fly her.” 

 

    “Yeah it’s just...it’s a lot to take in.” Poe sat down in the pilot seat and she started up right away, thanks to Rey fixing her the other day. “Ready?” 

 

    “Are you?” Rey countered with a grin. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    When they landed back at the base Han was anxiously waiting for them and then proceeded to inspect the Falcon from head to toe. After deeming that everything was alright, he let Poe and Rey go ahead and go eat dinner, Poe still excitedly talking about flying the famous ship. There was a light in his eyes that she had never seen before, a spark of something that she thought was actually a bit adorable. No, why did she think that? She wasn't supposed to think that, she didn't like him like that...did she? Rey had never really liked anyone as something more before, and while a certain body part of Poe's may have been attracted to her while she was straddling him in the gym, her father had told her many times that all men, including himself, were idiot moof milkers that would do anything to get in a girls pants and then leave them high and dry. Of course loving someone was different, loving someone was supposed to make you feel different, like you couldn't live without them like her mother and father. But she was told by her mother that first love was puppy love and never really lasted, did that mean the funny feeling she got around Poe was just that? 

 

    She supposed there was a chance of it, Ben had gone through puppy love back at the academy, Rey never said that she knew, but she knew he had a crush on Tenel Ka Djo, and that they did date up until he left a year before Tenel Ka left. But she never knew what happened once they were both gone, he never mentioned her so she assumed that was that, first love. Poe on the other hand was much older than her, had more than likely been around far more women to know the difference between love and lust, and Rey had no idea what she wanted. All she knew is she wanted things simple for now, he was her Commander and they worked together, they were slowly becoming friends and that was that. 

 

    “You wanna grab something to eat?” Poe asked, bringing Rey out of her thoughts. 

 

    “Uh, no, you go ahead, I'm not hungry right now.” Rey said. 

 

    “I'll bring you something anyway.” Poe assured her with a wink before leaning in and actually kissing her on the cheek before heading into the cafeteria. 

  
    Rey stood there frozen in place, a kiss on the cheek, that could be friendly, right? She knew there were other planets that considered that a proper greeting, friends could just kiss one on the cheek with nothing else between them, right? Rey told herself that the rest of the night, even when Poe brought her food and extra desserts back to her room. He was just her friend that happened to work with her, and happened to be rather handsome, and - no, she wasn't going down that road. Poe Dameron was her friend now, that was it. 


	6. The Power of Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So this chapter is mostly to start getting stuff in motion for the Twin Suns Squadron! However I have of course managed to weasel in more Damerey even though they're not together yet :P I hope you guys enjoy this, I can't believe I actually got this chapter done today!

    Rey wasn’t meditating as much as she was supposed to. Ben had been gone for two weeks already and all Rey had done since he left was worry for his safety, practice with the rest of her squadron, and training with her lightsaber. Luke had always stressed to her how important meditation was for a Jedi, and she had been completely ignoring it and dreading it because it was her least favorite task. This morning she made it her goal to find a peaceful place outside and finally meditate after breakfast. She wandered the grounds of the base, and eventually ended up a few miles out or so away from it, the noise from the base falling away and Rey discovering a rather peaceful looking lake, nestled in a hillside, and surrounded by trees. Rey planted herself by the lake and tried to relax herself before closing her eyes and trying to meditate; it was hard at first as it always was, but eventually she was able to fall into a peaceful state much to her surprise. 

 

    She didn’t have visions very often, she never did get them much, but Ben always did, and he’d usually never tell her what he saw, only Luke ever knew his visions. Needless to say, Rey was surprised that within a few minutes of meditation, she started seeing visions, glimpses into the past and future - or so it seemed. 

 

_ There was a woman, sad but beautiful, crying out at some man surrounded by flames and darkness. There was a dark cloaked man on board an Imperial ship, answering to a hooded elderly man who radiated nothing but darkness. There was her parents, holding a baby Ben in her mother's arms. Rey saw her younger self, sitting with a red haired woman who she remembered as Tenel Ka Djo and her brother, who was treating her so well in front of Tenel Ka. Rey saw Poe in his uniform, staring at her in such a loving way, as if she were an angel of sorts, and that he was lucky enough to be standing there beside her. There was a little girl with red hair on a strange planet Rey had never seen, reaching up towards the sky with a smile on her face while her mother held her and was waving goodbye towards the sky.  _

 

_     But what haunted Rey the most was the dark figure, radiating a different darkness than the two figures earlier in her vision, almost as if there was a confliction in him. He was tall and menacing, with a blood red lightsaber alive at his side, he was staring right at Rey and she had never felt more afraid in her life. But then she was dragged somewhere peaceful away from that fear, she was by this very lake at night and something ran through her that made her adrenaline rush, she was laughing in the vision with a dark haired man pulling her into his arms and kissing her like he needed her more than anything else in the galaxy, and when they parted it was...Poe?  _

 

    Rey snapped out of her meditation from that point on, not knowing what to feel after seeing all of that, most of it was confusing, the rest of it was mostly straightforward and those parts are what had Rey worrying heavily at the moment. She knew the woman in the beginning had to be her grandmother - Pamdé - and the man with darkness was her grandfather - Anakin. She didn’t know who the redheaded girl was or what it meant; and of course there was the man wrapped in conflicting darkness that terrified her. But what had her confused were the moments with Poe, neither had happened, so were they her future? Were they moments destined to happen or something of her own free will that she could change...if she wanted to change it that was. Her feelings for Poe were still mixed, they were friends, and she swore there were moments when he was flirting with her, but when she’d see him with Karé and Jessika he seemed to act the same way and they just brushed it off or laughed at him, they all took it in stride. She didn’t know if Poe acting like that was just a part of his personality and he was warming up to Rey, or if it was different with her - not that it mattered - or at least she tried to convince herself that it didn’t matter because she wasn’t going to let herself have romantic feelings for Poe Dameron. 

 

_ [Friend-Rey!] _ A familiar droid beeped as he rolled up to Rey’s side. BB-8 was covered in splotches of grease which told Rey he must have come from helping Poe with his X-Wing.  _ [Friend-Poe has requested your assistance, he is stuck on determining the cause of his X-Wing short circuiting.] _

 

    “He’s always messing with that thing, it’s a wonder it flies anymore.” Rey laughed. “Alright, let’s go save him from electrocuting himself.” 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Movie Night was something that everyone in the squadron had agreed upon having once a week, usually in Poe’s quarters since he had way more shameless action holos than any sane person should. Usually Rey sat down by Jess on Poe’s bedroom floor, but tonight Snap had taken that place between Jess and Karé, L’ulo and Oddy sat behind them, which meant Rey had to sit up on the bed by Poe where Snap usually sat. She didn’t care, Rey was able to put some space between them, and BB-8 parked himself on the floor right below her. As the movie progressed, she didn’t notice Poe inch closer to her until her eyes were starting to droop and it didn’t take long for her to lean over and startle herself when she was met with Poe’s shoulder. 

 

    “It’s okay.” Poe whispered to her. “I won’t tell anyone that you fell asleep.” 

 

    Embarrassed, Rey sat up a bit straighter, trying to avoid contact with the warmth radiating from Poe, but a few minutes later she was drifting off again and eventually had to settle on sleeping on Poe’s shoulder, another vision creeping in and taking over her. 

 

_ The dark figure was back with his hissing blood red lightsaber out and in a fighting stance. Before Rey could even process what he was doing, he swung his lightsaber and it cut her torso, Rey feeling every second of the pain and screaming. _

 

    “Rey! Rey, wake up!” Poe shouted out to her, holding both of her shoulders and his brown eyes filled with fear. 

 

    Rey looked around, the entire squadron was looking at her with that fear in their eyes as she sat up. 

 

    “Are you okay?” Poe asked, concern in his voice. 

 

   “I’m okay, sorry.” Rey mumbled, feeling embarrassed again for having interrupted the movie. Why were these visions haunting her so much today? 

 

    “Don’t be.” Poe was rubbing her back now in small circles, Rey felt nothing but caring and warmth radiating from him and from everyone else in the room as well, they actually cared about her - all of them did - but perhaps Poe a bit more so. “What happened?” 

 

    “Jedi stuff.” Rey sighed. “I’m fine, let’s just go back to the movie.” 

 

    Without much fuss, everyone sat back down and resumed the last bit of the movie, Rey keeping her eyes open the entire time, not even noticing that Poe kept his hand on her back the rest of the time until the movie was over. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey couldn’t sleep, after the two times she closed her eyes today resulting in visions, she was afraid to close her eyes. She didn’t have anyone to talk to - nor did she want to wake anyone up to keep her up - so Rey resisded herself to reading. They were cheesy romance novels that Jess had let her borrow just to have something to read in situations like this, since all she had from her time with Luke were books of old Jedi training methods and their history - things that would easily make her fall asleep. She was halfway through the book, starting to get to the good part, when her data pad beside her bed started to beep. She looked over at it and saw the red and bold ‘ALERT’ which meant she had to get dressed quick and get to the control room. 

 

    Rey scrambled out of bed and chanted into a white t-shirt and black pants before pulling her orange flightsuit on overtop and rushing out of her room, meeting up with Jess along the way there. 

 

    “What do you think happened?” Rey asked curiously, her mind racing with a million possibilities, most of them anxious thoughts about something bad happening to Ben. 

 

    “It’s nothing good whatever it is, we only get called out if it’s for something big.” Jess sighed and noticed the worried look on Rey’s face. “I’m sure it’s nothing too bad though.” She quickly tried to lie, though Rey could see right through it. 

 

    Her and Jess were the first to arrive other than Lieutenant Connix and Leia being present already. A few minutes later the rest of the squadron rushed in, Poe surprisingly being the last and looking even more exhausted than Rey, she couldn’t help but wonder if he couldn’t sleep either for some reason. 

 

    “Alright, now that everyones here, Lieutenant Connix here caught a distress signal coming from Tatooine.” Leia announced as she pulled up a holo map of the desert planet that Luke had always talked about so much. 

 

    “Who is it from?” Poe questioned, holding back a yawn. 

 

    “Our best guess is Ben. His ship didn’t have anything on it that could trace him back here, so he doesn’t have a distress call that lets us know it’s him. We also don’t have anyone else out there so it has to be him.” Leia sighed. 

 

    “Is that where he was supposed to be going?” Rey questioned, her anxiety starting to build. 

 

    “He didn’t tell anyone where he was going, all his files are encrypted for security and he didn’t want to risk anyone here, so he kept it all a secret. He only told me that he was heading to the outer rim and following any leads from there. It will take too long to decrypt his files and if he needs help now, we have to move now.” Leia stated, Rey could feel the worry radiating off of her as well though she was trying her best to control it. “I don’t know what you’ll be going into over there, but it’s time Twin Suns head out on their first mission.” 

 

    “We’ll figure out what’s going on out there, General.” Poe stated and seemed to instantly go right into his Commander role as soon as he needed it. Rey wished she could be more like that at the moment, but right now all she felt was fear for her brother’s life. 

 

    “Thank you. Head out as soon as you can.” Leia said before walking away with Connix, the rest of the control room crew starting to filter in, clearly being called into work now as well. 

 

    The rest of the squadron mobilized, heading out towards the tarmac, but Rey was frozen in place, staring at the holo map and the blinking little dot that indicated where the distress signal was coming from. 

 

    “Hey, are you okay?” Poe asked, walking over to her and taking a hold of her hand. 

 

    “I’m fine.” Rey nodded, looking down at his hand though she didn’t really feel like moving her own, it was nice almost to have his hand there, though she’d never admit it outloud. 

 

    “You’ve said that a lot today but I’m not sure if you actually mean it or not.” Poe said. 

 

    “I’m...worried.” Rey finally sighed. “I’m worried about Ben.” 

 

    “I know that’s bugging you right now, and we’re gonna go out there and get him. Hell, if it’ll make you feel better I’ll drag him back here myself.” Poe smirked. 

 

    The thought of Poe physically dragging her brother back to the base was enough to make her crack a smile. 

 

    “Was there something else bugging you earlier?” Poe asked curiously, inching a bit closer. 

 

_ Visions of you _ , Rey wanted to blurt out, and while they were part of what made her feel on edge, they were nothing compared to the other visions. 

 

    “I had these visions...there’s something dark out there, or it’s going to be out there, and...I’m going to have to fight it.” Rey said. 

 

   Poe squeezed her hand. “Well, no matter what happens...I want you to know I’ll always be in your corner, okay?” 

 

    “Why?” Rey couldn’t help but ask, and when she looked him in the eyes her heart skipped a beat. He had that look that he had in her vision earlier this morning, he was looking at her as if she were something unearthly and beautiful, and Rey felt a blush creeping up on her now under his gaze. 

 

    “Because I...I’d,uh, I’d do that for any of my friends.” Poe stumbled a bit in his words, and Rey didn’t know why suddenly the word ‘friends’ stung a bit. That’s what they were, wasn’t it? That’s what she wanted...right? 

  
    “Oh.” Was all Rey managed to say, nodding and pulling her hand away from his, a slight disappointment weighing on her and she swore she saw a bit of it in Poe’s eyes. “Come on, we better get to the tarmac, they’re waiting for us out there.” Rey sighed and started walking away, halfway to the door before she heard Poe’s footsteps pick up behind her. 


	7. The Battle of Tatooine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So this is a bit late! Sorry for the delay, between the power being out yesterday from a horrible storm and me being pretty addicted to Overwatch most of the day, it's been a bit slow. But I sat down and wrote and wrote until this bad boy was done and what you've got here is a 4,500 word chapter to enjoy! :3 Let me know what you guys think <3

    The entire time it took to get to Tatooine at lightspeed was spent in silence. No one said much of anything, either too tired or too worried to really speak past the basic communications as they left the planet. As soon as they left lightspeed as they neared Tatooine however, the comms exploded with frantic calls out, and Rey didn’t know what it was until she pulled out of lightspeed alongside Poe and saw the chaos in front of them. There were TIE Fighters, almost as if they had been waiting for them, though not many thankfully, enough for their small squadron to handle. The sight of them being here alone was enough to make Rey start worrying about Ben, how did they get here and what were they here for?

 

    “Twin Leaders, we’re getting hit fast and hard out here, I don’t think any of us are gonna be able to land.” Snap came over the comms. 

 

    “Can we shake them?” Rey asked. 

 

    “It’s not looking that way, there’s only three of them but they know where to hit.” Jess replied just as Rey watched her carefully dodge a blast that was headed straight to her. 

 

    “Twin Leaders, we can clear a path for you, we can keep them distracted while you two head in, we can reach you over the comms when we lose them.” Karé called out. 

 

    “I don’t wanna leave you guys out here like that.” Poe replied. 

 

    “Rey needs to get down if it’s Ben, and someone needs to watch her back down there. You go Poe, we can handle these guys.” Jess reassured him, landing hits on one that had been tailing her and taking out one of it’s wings. “See, got one on crutches already! You two get out of here, we’ll call you where we’re done.” 

 

    “Alright.” Poe answered. “Come on Rey, let’s duck out, these guys got them.” 

 

    “Alright.” Rey answered, following Poe’s lead down to the planet's surface. 

 

    Just as they were attempting to escape, one of the TIE Fighters caught on to their plan and started tailing Poe. Before anyone else could react, Rey swooped in and got rid of the TIE Fighter in a matter of seconds, and while Poe’s ship was a bit damaged, it sure as hell was better than him being dead. 

 

    “Thanks, Rey.” Poe came over the comms, relief clear in his voice. 

 

    “Wasn’t about to let you die today, flyboy.” Rey said with a bit of a smirk that she was glad Poe couldn’t see that. 

 

    “Glad to hear it.” Poe answered back with a twinge of a laugh in his voice. 

 

    The two made the rest of their descent in peace, keeping in contact with the rest of the squadron on the way down. Poe had them land right where the distress signal was coming from, and as soon as Rey hopped out of her X-Wing and saw Ben’s sand covered and broken down A-Wing, she wanted to burst out in tears. What if Ben was seriously hurt and hiding inside it? What if they were already too late? What if Ben had been dead for days and someone set this up as a trap or accidentally hit it while scavenging the dead ship? All these thoughts and more ran through Rey’s mind; Ben would never leave his ship unless it was badly injured or worse. 

 

    “That’s his ship.” Rey said, her voice cracking a bit. 

 

    “I know.” Poe let out a sigh and walked up to Rey, resting his hand on her shoulder. “He could have set it off and went back to wherever he’s hiding out, I doubt he’s in there. Don’t worry Rey, Ben’s more resourceful than you think. I’ve been out on mission with him before and he’s a quick thinker, he knows what to do when he’s in trouble, we’ll find him.” 

 

    “Where do we even start? Tatooine is just a big ball of sand. We could be miles away from the nearest city.” Rey protested. 

 

    “I’ve got the map here.” Poe pulled out a small data pad and handed it over to Rey. “There’s a city two miles from here, I’m sure that’s where Ben is, he wouldn’t crash his ship far away from civilization if he could help it. From the looks of this thing he met our First Order friends out there like we did when he was coming in. If that’s the case than it looks like they’re here on this planet and they don’t want anyone coming in for a reason.” 

 

    “...You’re right.” Rey nodded and started trying to focus solely on finding Ben and getting to this city. “We should get going then.” 

 

    “I’ll let the team know where we’re going.” Poe answered and started leading the way to the city, Rey shortly behind him and praying that she’d get to see her brothers face again one more time. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    The village made Rey’s skin crawl and gave off the energy of nothing but either sorrowful or greedy people. The place was filled with criminals of all kinds, from smugglers to slavers, and Rey had to fight to keep her control around all the sorrow that the slaves constantly carried with them; seeing the children was even worse - so skinny and sickly looking. 

 

    “Everything okay?” Poe asked, nudging her and pulling her out of her trance, noticing the sad look on her face.

 

    “Yeah, I’m okay.” Rey assured him. “There’s just a lot of conflicting emotions around here. I can control it.” 

 

    “Alright, just checking.” Poe cracked a smile towards her. “Those smugglers over there have been eyeing us since we got here, I’m gonna go talk to them, you just stay here, okay?” 

 

    “I can go with you.” Rey protested. 

 

    “No, I...I don’t like the way they’re looking at you. Just stay here, see if you can talk to one of the people walking around that look like they’re acting a bit sketchy, they might know something.” Poe stated as he walked off. 

 

    Rey wanted to protest, but Poe walked off before she could and settled herself sitting on a bench near one of the buildings. She watched all the people pass by, most of them just minding their own business, others trying to look back at her and see why she was watching them. She didn’t know how long she had sat there waiting for Poe and watching the people until she saw a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. Rey looked over and saw a Force ghost...of a child? This got Rey up and walking towards it, the ghost running away from her as soon as she followed. 

 

    “Hey, come back!” Rey shouted as she ran where she saw the child go. 

 

    She followed them for a few twists and turns until she was greeted by the sight of an adult man for a Force ghost with a rather familiar face. 

 

    “Anakin?” Rey questioned. 

 

    Rey had seen her grandfather before in visions, occasionally as a Force ghost before when she was just a young girl and learning the ways of the Force. When she was young however, he was there to comfort her, especially when she would wake up crying at night for her parents and he would comfort her - telling her that he was there. As Rey grew up, Anakin slowly disappeared, and now he was back, but why? Was it because she missed Ben and was worried for him, or was it for something far worse? Anakin was going to speak, but just as she did so, someone grabbed her shoulder and started to drag her into one of the huts. 

 

    “POE!” Rey shouted out, hoping that somehow he could hear her. “POE!” 

 

    She felt a twinge of something through the Force, something that made her feel like he heard her, but before she could call him again, everything went black. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Something came over Poe that felt like a cold knife to the heart, making him feel terrified, and he’d never felt this terrified before. He had just finished talking to the smugglers, they had seen more First Order ships around here than they cared for seeing, but they didn’t know why they were here like most of everyone else. But now he was terrified and Rey was missing, she wasn’t where he left him and his mind became consumed with the sole thought of getting to Rey wherever she may have been. 

 

    “REY!” Poe shouted out. 

 

    He saw a flash of something blue, more like a mist that was trying to form and it led into a small hut where he heard a thud and his heart dropped. 

 

    “REY!” Poe called out again, this time finding Rey unconscious on the floor, and a tall covered up scavenger standing beside her with a staff in his hand. 

 

    Poe reached for his blaster and was ready to blow this guy out of this system, he hurt Rey, there was no blood and something just told him that she wasn’t dead yet, but he was going to make sure that this man was. 

 

    “Wait!” The man shouted, pulling the goggles and fabric off of his face, revealing a rather overheated looking Ben Solo. 

 

    “Ben?” Poe questioned, lowering his blaster right away, but making his way over to Rey’s side. “What the hell? Is Rey okay?” 

 

    “She’s fine, I couldn’t have her shouting and drawing people over here. I just drained some of her energy, she’ll wake up in a few minutes.” Ben assured him. “I’m guessing you two are here because of the signal?” 

 

    “Yeah, you set it off?” Poe questioned. 

 

    “Yeah.” Ben nodded. “Where’s the rest of the squadron?” 

 

    “Up in the air still, they’ve got TIE Fighters on them, they wanted Rey and I to at least get down here to you.” Poe explained as he pulled Rey’s head into his lap to keep her off the stone sandy floor, waiting anxiously for her to wake up, the fear still lingering but admittedly not as bad as it had been now that he had his eyes on her. 

 

    “Poe.” Rey mumbled faintly, her eyes trying to open. 

 

    “I’m here sunshine, don’t worry, I’ve got you.” He assured her, leaning in towards her and pressing a kiss to her forehead, not even thinking much of it, and taking ahold of one of her hands that seemed to be reaching out and searching for him. 

 

    “Well you two have gotten close since I left.” Ben stated, Poe finally remembering that  _ Rey’s brother _ was in the room, standing there, and watching him like a hawk. 

 

    “No, it’s - we’re not - I just...I don’t want her to get hurt.” Poe finally admitted. 

 

    “Uh huh. Well, if it means anything...it’s just nice to know that there’s someone watching out for her. My mom always said Rey was too much like our dad for her own good; she has a tendency to put herself in danger.” Ben explained. 

 

    “I’ve noticed.” Poe said with a bit of a smirk. 

 

    “Poe?” Rey said more questioning now, her eyes opened all the way now and her hazel eyes scanning his face, looking for some explanation. 

 

    “Hey, sis.” Ben spoke up, Rey turning towards Ben now. “Sorry about that, I just didn’t want to draw any attention, and you shouting out for a well known Resistance Commander on a planet filled with First Order troopers...it’s not exactly a great idea.” 

 

    “I understand.” Rey said. “But ow, you could have at least caught me before I fell.” Rey reached behind her and rubbed the back of her head, Poe reached back there now as well and felt a bump starting to grow from her fall. 

 

    “I didn’t think you’d fall that quick!” Ben protested. “You’ll live.” 

 

    “Oh how I’ve missed my kind and caring big brother.” Rey smirked as she said it, Ben was fighting a grin by rolling his eyes. 

 

    “While it’d be nice to just hang around on one of the hottest planets in the galaxy, I didn’t call you guys here for a vacation.” Ben sighed. “The First Order has something big here on this planet.” 

 

    “What is it?” Poe asked. 

 

    “You’ll need to see it.” Ben stated. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    “A factory?” Rey questioned. 

 

    The trio were all laying down in the sand, looking through their own binoculars to spot the First Order factory in the distance. It was huge, a Star Destroyer sitting in the open end of it while the sealed up and secured parts were guarded by Stormtroopers. 

 

    “Yeah.” Ben sighed. “They’re working with some of the slavers here on the planet and having their slaves work in the factory making the blasters, TIE Fighters, Star Destroyers, you name it - they’re making it here. This is just one of about five of their factories, at least that’s what I overheard one of those bucketheads saying.” 

 

    “God.” Poe said just above a whisper. “We’ve gotta get in there, if we just grab one heavy duty blaster out of there, that’d be proof enough for the Republic. Plus pictures of this place, they’ll be sending soldiers to the Resistance by the ship load.” 

 

    “How are we going to get past the Stormtroopers?” Rey asked. 

 

    “I’ve got that covered.” Ben said. “They aren’t that hard to manipulate. If we get in there, you two will have to go down to the main floor, I’ll make sure all the other troopers are pulled out. You two have to grab a blaster, get whatever photos you need for the Republic, and get those people out because you’re also going to need to blow up that Star Destroyer.” 

 

    “What?” Poe asked in disbelief, putting his binoculars down. 

 

    “If you blow that thing up, the whole place goes. No more weapons, no more ships, it’ll hurt their supply to the Order.” Ben explained. 

 

    “Yeah, but that thing will go up in flames in a second, you can’t blow that up safely.” Poe said. 

 

    “I’ll do it.” Rey volunteered. 

 

    “No, you won’t.” Poe insisted. 

 

    “I know their layout, I’ve studied their ships before too, I can control how fast the blast goes up if I just get to an access panel and pull their self destruct, it’ll give me some time to get out of there before it blows.” Rey insisted. “You get the people and the pictures and one of the weapons. I’ll get on the ship, find the self destruct, and set it off, everybody needs to be as far away from the blast as they can be.” 

 

    “Rey-” 

 

    “Don’t fight me on this, Poe.” Rey stated firmly. “I’m doing this, I’m the only one that can do this. Just get the innocent people to safety, and get yourself to safety. Same for you Ben.” 

 

    “Alright.” Ben mumbled, he didn’t sound thrilled about the plan either, but he knew Rey going through the self destruct was better than any other plan he could think of. “Let’s do this then. I’ll go in first, give me ten minutes, I’ll have them all rounded up somewhere, go in, get the people out, and blow the ship up. Don’t forget the weapon and pictures either.” 

 

    “We won’t.” Rey assured her brother. 

 

    Ben hesitated for a moment after standing up, wanting to give Rey a hug just in case, but instead he just moved on towards the factory, he was always bad at goodbyes even if it was just temporary. 

 

    “I don’t like this plan.” Poe said. 

 

    “I know you don’t. I’m not fond of it either, but it’s our only shot. If we just leave this standing they’ll keep making weapons and we’ll be even more outnumbered than we already are. We need to destroy this factory, it’ll hurt their production for a while.” Rey rationalized. 

 

    Without another word, Poe leaned over and pressed a kiss to Rey’s temple. Rey felt the teat rush to her cheeks and she looked over at Poe who didn’t seem affected at all. 

 

    “What was that for?” Rey asked. 

 

    “I care about you.” Poe simply stated. “Just...be careful.” 

 

    Rey didn’t say anything, she just reached over and squeezed Poe’s hand and hoped for the best. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


_ “Alright Rey, everyone’s out.” _ Poe announced over the comms. 

 

    “Okay.” Rey replied, nervously reaching into the panel and heading for the wire. 

 

_ “WAIT!”  _ Ben shouted over his comms, a rumble passing through the entire building and Star Destroyer.  _ “We’ve got company, these idiots just informed me that there’s TIE Fighters coming in, the ones in the sky called in company, we have to get out, forget the Destroyer, we all need to leave!” _

 

    Shots rang out above Rey, all hitting the building as she heard panicked voices come over both Poe and Ben’s comms. They wouldn’t destroy this ship, Destroyers were too hard to build and too beneficial to them to just blow up, and they more than likely didn’t know that she was even in here. 

 

    “I have to do this, they won’t blow this place or this ship, I have to finish it!” Rey replied. 

 

_ “Rey, get out of there!”  _ Poe shouted. 

 

    She didn’t answer back, Rey cut the wires and the lights started going off through the ship, along with it announcing it’s one minute countdown to self destruction. Rey started running out as quickly as she could, climbing down stairs and making it out the door as it announced twenty seconds left. She didn’t know how far she would get in twenty seconds, not far enough, but she had to try and she refused to stop running. Poe and Ben were in sight, running away from the blasts along with the slave that had been inside the building. She thought she would watch them die as she was running, but instead she heard the familiar hum of the X-Wings and Rey could hear the rest of her squadron, all still there, and attacking the incoming ships. As soon as Rey felt a rumble in the ground, she knew the Destroyer was starting to implode, she didn’t stop, she didn’t turn back, she just kept running, and when the explosion erupted, she pushed herself even harder to get to Poe and Ben, Poe who was standing there now calling out her name and trying to get her to run faster. He was so close, or so it seemed, he was still far away, and Rey kept running as fast as she could, only feeling a sharp and painful sting behind her head, knocking her down and everything fading away to nothing. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    “REY!” Poe shouted, running towards Rey with all his might, some debris still going past him from the factory and the ship, but he didn’t care, he had to get to Rey. 

 

    She had just crumpled to the ground like a rag doll, and when Poe fell to his knees beside her, he immediately checked her pulse that was still there but faint. The large piece of shrapnel that hit her was covered in her blood, Poe reached behind her head and instantly felt the hot and sticky blood staining his hands, he didn’t know how bad it was, but he wasn’t going to let her die - not here, not in his arms, not before he manned up and finally told her that he didn’t want her to leave him, never. Poe scooped her up and started carrying her towards Ben who was frozen in place, his face pale. 

 

   “She’s still alive, we need a ship for all three of us now, we need to get her to base!” Poe hissed, snapping Ben out of it. 

 

    “There’s a fighter on the edge of the village, keep carrying her!” Ben shouted as he took off running, the village barely in sight and the ship Ben was talking about thankfully closer than Poe expected. 

 

    “Don’t die on me Rey, please stay with me, please.” Poe pleaded as he kept carrying her, trying to hold her head close to his body to keep her from bouncing around too much. 

 

    Ben hotwired the ship and got the ramp down, Poe getting Rey onboard and onto one of the cots in the back end of the ship. He wasn’t going to leave her side, Ben was a great pilot, he could get them out of this, he had to, because Poe wasn’t going to let Rey slip away from him as long as he was still alive. 

 

    “Try to stop her from bleeding, keep her head a little elevated, and stay with her to make sure she doesn’t move, she’s been jostled around enough, she needs to be still!” Ben shouted out as he ran towards the pilot seat. 

 

    “I’m on it!” Poe replied, digging through the drawers looking for something to wrap up Rey’s head with for now. 

 

    He was grateful when he found a fairly well stocked medical cabinet, grabbing the gauze and starting to wrap it around Rey’s head, taking even more rolls of it and putting it under her head to keep her slightly elevated. Poe felt the ship jerk up and Poe fastened Rey to the bed and himself in a chair right beside her, holding onto her hand with all his might. The ship jerked around a bit more, he heard the shots land on them, but only a few. He heard Ben talking to the rest of the squadron over Poe’s comm and telling them his plans, they covered his ass and he got the hell out of there to get Rey to safety. A few minutes passed and Poe felt the ship lurch into lightspeed, they were finally in some form of safety. 

 

    “How’s she doing?” Ben shouted from the pilot's seat, more than likely setting auto pilot to come back here. 

 

    “She’s the same.” Poe answered, unbuckling himself and kneeling at Rey’s side, brushing her hair back from her face and feeling his stomach drop as he saw the blood already trying to seep through the gauze wrapped around her head. 

 

    Ben ran to the back of the ship, kneeling beside Poe and taking ahold of her hand. “I’m not letting you die sis, I’m supposed to die before you, I’m the big brother, not the other way around. You are not dying, not today.” Ben said. 

 

    Poe saw a focus across Ben’s face before it turned to strain, he saw a faint blue light form over Rey’s hand. It only lasted a few seconds before Ben pulled away, looking completely drained and in pain. 

 

    “What did you do?” Poe questioned. 

 

    “Force Healing.” Ben stated. “I’m not good at it, Rey was always better, but it was something. It was enough to heal the crack, I felt it there...it’s bad.” 

 

    “But you helped her, right?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Yeah, the crack is healed. I don’t know what else is in there, I can’t fix it, but I did something that should hold her over.” Ben assured Poe. “The doctors will have to fix the rest.” 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    They tore Rey away from him the moment they landed, the medics came in and carted her off, Poe running after them. When they reached the medical bay, they tried to keep Poe away, but Leia nearly bit their heads off and insisted that Poe was allowed to see her, that without him she might be dead, and the doctors readily corrected themselves saying no one could see her until she was out of surgery, and that Poe could see her once she was out with everyone else. He sat in the med bay for hours, he was terrified, sad, and angry; angry at himself for letting Rey go in there alone, angry for not getting to her in time, angry at the world for this happening to her. When the doctors said she was out and stable, though put into a medically induced coma for the next week, Poe let Leia, Han, and Ben to see her first. A half hour later they all came out and let Poe have some alone time with her. 

 

    “I’m not leaving her.” Poe mumbled to Leia as she came back into the room an hour later. “It’s my fault she’s like this, I’m not going to leave her alone again.” 

 

    “Ben told me what happened, he also told me that she was being as stubborn as I am and she wasn’t going to leave without blowing that ship up. It’s not your fault Dameron, you got her back here in one piece, she’s going to live because of you.” Leia explained as she sat beside the plot before wrapping her arms around him for a hug. “Thank you, for saving my daughter.” 

 

    “But...she’s like this.” Poe stated. 

 

    “But she’s going to be okay. She’s going to wake up. You got her off the planet, Ben bought the doctor's time. I wouldn’t want Rey out there in the field without you, I know you’ll watch out for her.” Leia said as she pulled away from the embrace. “You love her.” 

 

    “What?” Poe asked shocked, a blush reaching his cheeks. “I - I never - how?” 

 

   “Luke isn’t the only one with the Force, remember?” Leia asked with a bit of a smirk, though it was almost bittersweet in contrast to her red-rimmed eyes. “I’ve felt your attitude change over these few weeks around her, I’ve noticed the way you look at her and she looks at you. I don’t care, Luke has said a thousand times that he’s not enforcing the old Jedi ways of no attachments. If it were anyone else in the base I’d be worried, but I know you’ll watch out for her, and she needs someone to do that since she certainly won’t.” Leia laughed a bit. “I’m not going to tell her, I’ll let you two figure this out on your own, but just know that it’s not bad to care about someone, even out here, in all of this. I met Han in all of this once before and here we are now still in the middle of it.” 

 

    “I...I’m not sure what I should say.” Poe mumbled now, torn between wanting to respect the General and keep his feelings for Rey to himself, and wanting to tell Rey that he loved her from now until his last day. 

 

    “Don’t say anything, just stay with her, I know she’ll sense you here, she senses more than she lets on, she’s always been that way.” Leia sighed. “Ben wants to stay with her and you for a bit. If I hear that you're not leaving this room I’ll send your squadron here to force you out to go eat and whatever else. I don’t need two pilots in the med bay.” 

 

    “Yes, General.” Poe smirked. 

 

    Leia walked out with a smile, something that must have been hard to muster in a time like this, and Poe got out of his seat to press a kiss to Rey’s bandaged temple. 

  
    “I’m not leaving you Rey, not ever again.” He whispered to her before pulling away, feeling a small wave of warmth and comfort pass through him before sitting down, and he knew now that it was her, letting him know in the only way she could that she was there, and she heard him. 


	8. Guardian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So this chapter is pretty short, especially when you compare it to the last chapter, but I promise the next chapter is a big surprise and something I hope you guys will like ;) For now this chapter is super sweet and fluffy, a little enjoyment after the last chapter :3

    It had almost been a week, six days to be exact, and Poe had taken to his new routine of staying by Rey almost twenty-four seven. Occasionally someone would stop by the room to give him a relief period - to go eat, shower, and whatever else he had to do - even BB-8 would try to relieve him for an hour or so, though whenever Han and Leia stopped by they always tried to talk him into staying out longer to get some actual rest; but he refused. Poe would do what he had to and come back to sit vigil at her side, sleeping in broken patterns, but vowing to stay at her side until she woke up. 

 

    “Alright, kid, break time.” Han’s gruff voice broke Poe’s hazy train of thought; he hadn’t gotten much sleep over the past six days, and though everyone knew he was exhausted, he refused to rest anywhere else. 

 

    “I’m good for another hour.” Poe tried to play off his tiredness, but a yawn escaped and Han knew he was lying. 

 

    “You already skipped breakfast, I’m sure Leia will kill me if you skip lunch too. Go eat, shower, maybe taking a nap wouldn’t kill you, you look worse than her.” Han gestured towards Rey. 

 

    He was right, Poe was ashen, dark circles under his eyes and hair a mess with the scruff starting to grow in. Rey on the other hand was getting better with each passing day, her skin was slowly gaining some of her normal color back, they had taken the oxygen tubes off of her the day before yesterday since she started breathing strongly enough on her own again, and she was certainly going to be the most well rested person on the base for a while. 

 

    “I’ll be back in an hour.” Poe yawned yet again, even catching BB-8’s attention this time who rolled over to him now and nudged his leg. 

 

_ [Friend-Poe, my reading indicate that you are very tired, to a dangerous level. You are required to sleep to be strong and to keep from getting sick. You need sleep.] _ BB-8 explained. 

 

    “See? Even the ball knows you're burning yourself out.” Han grumbled just as Chewie walked into the room behind Han; a series of grunts, groans, and grumbles coming from his lips while Han listened in. “Yeah, I know, he’s not the brightest right now, but you can’t lock him up.” 

 

    “Lock me up?” Poe questioned. 

 

    Chewbacca made another series of grumbling noises. “His bottom line is that he loves Rey, Rey likes you, and while she’s still healing, when she wakes up it’d be nice if you weren’t half dead. If you’re not gone for at least three hours, Chewie said he’s gonna lock you in your room until you get some real sleep.” Han explained it all. 

 

    “Two hours.” Poe countered. 

 

    “Whatever, just go do what you’re going to do, we’ll be here.” Han sighed, clearly not wanting to fight. 

 

    “I’ll be back soon.” Poe whispered as he squeezed Rey’s hand before rising from his seat and taking his leave. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Poe had fallen asleep after taking a shower, he passed out on his bed promising himself only ten minutes and instead slept for three hours after already being gone an hour already. He got dressed in a hurry and practically ran back to the medical bay, seeing Han and Chewbacca still at Rey's side, she was still knocked out as expected, and BB-8 had somehow gotten in Poe's chair and was faithfully watching Rey in Poe's absence. 

 

    “Exhaustion gets the best of everyone sometimes, it's good to get some sleep, she's not going anywhere yet.” Han said as he reached over and pat BB-8 on the head to alert the little droid to his owners presence. 

 

    “I didn't want to be gone that long.” Poe mumbled while BB-8 rolled up to him. 

 

_ [Friend-Rey is still stable, though my readings indicate that she may wake up very soon!]  _ BB-8 chirped cheerfully. 

 

    “Thanks, buddy.” Poe knelt down to speak to his little droid. “Why don't you go get a charge, you're a little drained too.” 

 

_ [Of course. Friend-Poe, may I ask you something?]  _ BB-8 asked tentatively. 

 

    “Sure, buddy.” Poe replied, wondering what was on his mind. 

 

_ [If it is alright with you, I would like to stay with Friend-Rey in her room when she wakes up for a few days, just to be sure that she is alright.]  _ BB-8 stated. 

 

    Poe could help but smile and laugh a bit, he knew BB-8 had grown attached to Rey, but he never asked to stay with someone before until now, and Poe knew that meant the droid had found another person to care for as much as he cares for Poe himself. 

 

    “Go ahead, buddy. I think she'll like that a lot.” Poe smiled. 

 

    “Alright, Chewie and I are gonna go grab some dinner, we’ll bring something back for you.” Han said as he and Chewbacca rose from their seats, Han pausing for a minute to lean over and kiss Rey on the forehead before walking towards Poe. “...Thanks.” Han mumbled to him. 

 

    “For what?” Poe questioned. 

 

    “Keeping an eye on one of the people that mean the world to me.” Han clapped Poe on the shoulder. “But the minute you kiss her, we’re having a talk.” 

 

    With that, Han walked out of the room, leaving Poe a bit stunned but slightly embarrassed that even Han managed to piece together what he was starting to feel for Rey. BB-8 rolled out shortly behind them, going to go charge in Poe’s quarters, and that left Poe to sit at Rey's side again, listening to the beeping of the monitors keeping track of her status, and Poe sitting anxiously in his chair, waiting to see Rey’s hazel eyes again. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey's eyes slowly began to open, the first thing hitting her was just how badly her head hurt. She expected to be greeted by the Tatooine heat and sand beneath her hands, instead she felt bedsheets and had fluorescent lights shining down on her. There was something holding her hand, it almost startled her to look over and see that a sleeping Poe was still holding on to her hand despite being peacefully asleep. The clock up on the wall told her it was almost three in the morning, everything was pretty silent around the base, only the few night shifters up and about while most slept unless called upon for an emergency. She didn't know how long she had been here, but the way her muscles ached from lack of movement told her it was a while. Rey was considering waking up Poe and asking him how long he'd been there, when BB-8 rolled into the room and beeped loudly and clearly, startling Poe out of his sleep. Poe looked frantic until his brown eyes landed on her and realized that she was very much awake. 

 

    “Rey?” Poe's voice was barely above a whisper, still groggy from his sleep. “How long have you been awake?” 

 

    “A few minutes.” She admitted. “How long have I been here?” 

 

    “About a week.” Poe yawned. 

 

    “What?” Rey asked as she sharply jerked herself upright, her head and just about everything else screaming in pain as she did so. 

 

    “Whoa, slow down there.” Poe reached over and helped her gently lay back down, his hand cupping the side of her face once she was settled. “You're gonna hurt yourself, again.” He said with a twinge of a smirk. “The doctors here put you out so the swelling would go down. You're actually up a bit early.” 

 

    “What happened on Tatooine?” Rey asked before a panic set in. “Do you have the-”

 

    “We got a blaster and all the pictures out, they got sent to the Republic. I haven't heard anything about it yet but your mom should be coming back in a few hours from Hosnian Prime with news, hopefully it's good.” Poe said with a sigh. “But right now I'm just glad you're awake.” 

 

    “How long have you been here?” Rey asked now. 

 

    “Oh, well, ever since you got here. People have come by to let me go for a bit to eat and whatever but I always came back as quick as I could.” Poe said. 

 

    “You've been here this entire time?” Rey questioned. “Why would you do that?” 

 

    “Because...because I, uh, I like you. A lot. I didn't want to just leave you here alone, I didn't want you to wake up alone. I mean your family would have been here if I hadn't been here all the time maybe but-” 

 

    “I'm glad you're here.” Rey cut him off with a smile. 

 

    “...Really?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Yeah, because I think I like you a lot too.” Rey admitted, too sleepy still to feel embarrassed or awkward. 

 

    Poe had leaned in closer to her and she saw the signs of exhaustion on him, telling her he had spent most of his time here and most of it sleepless. But he was still smiling despite it, a warmth about him that made Rey feel safe and know that nothing bad was going to happen to her. For a moment she thought he was going to kiss her, it felt like that from the way he kept ahold of her hand and how close he was, not to mention how his eyes had wandered to his lips. Rey actually wanted him to kiss her, she didn't know how or why she got these feelings for Poe, but she had them, and she wanted to at least try doing something about them instead of never knowing. But something stopped him, she didn't know what it was, but he settled on sitting back down and just continuing to hold her hand.

 

    “Uh, well, when you get out of here, Beebee-Ate wants to stay with you for a bit, I think he likes you more than me now.” Poe smirked.  

  
    “I'll be glad to have him.” Rey mumbled and mustered up a grin to hide her disappointment. 


	9. Under the Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Up to chapter 9! I know I kinda left a bit of a cliffhanger in the last chapter, but hopefully I can make it up to you guys with this chapter ;) I hope you guys like it, I'm kinda actually a bit nervous about this chapter? Maybe because I've thought about it so much and have reread it so many times that I'm thinking too much about how this chapter turned out? Let me know if you guys like it, I could use the feedback for this chapter! :3

    The doctors had told Rey that for the next few days after she woke up that she would be a bit dizzy at times, and more than likely lose her balance; which meant not only was she grounded yet again, but it was recommended that someone stay with her to keep her from falling and hitting her head after everything that's happened. Of course Poe volunteered, despite being the only other Commander left to the squadron, and Rey didn't know if she felt happy to spend all this extra time with him, or awkward after their near-kiss encounter. It had been three days since she woke up, and Rey asked Poe to help her get her balance back since she was a bit more wobbly than usual and hated every second of it. He had her trying to walk on ledges and down straight lines to try and help, following her closely and keeping one hand close to the small of her back at all times in case she should try and fall. 

 

    Poe had been a bit more hands on than usual, taking just about every chance he could to touch some part of her in someway, and Rey was dying to ask him what exactly was going on between them, though before she could ask she'd always chicken out. This time however, her question was interrupted by her own mother, walking into the room right as she almost fell and Poe put both hands on her hips, keeping her steady and holding her close to him. 

 

    “Are you alright?” Leia asked right away, panic in her eyes, she had been that way for as long as Rey could remember, whenever her or Ben had gotten hurt as a kid, suddenly the tough Leia Organa would vanish and be replaced by one that perhaps worried a bit too much. 

 

    “I'm better than I was a few days ago.” Rey sighed, pulling away from Poe's grasp and trying to contain her blushing while her mother was present. 

 

    “That’s good to hear.” Leia said with a slight nod as she walked over to the pair. “As good as it is to see you're getting your balance back with Poe here, I’m going to need to borrow you for the day.” 

 

    “Why?” Rey questioned. 

 

    “Well, I just finished talking to the New Republic, and after them going over the evidence that you two and Ben got off Tatooine, they’ve decided to finally send us some much needed help around here.” Leia stated. 

 

    “That’s great news, General.” Poe smiled. 

 

    “It is, but Rey’s not going to like the rest of this little announcement.” Leia groaned. 

 

    “What do you mean?” Rey asked worriedly. 

 

    “The New Republic has decided to hold a Senate Ball on Naboo in honor of this new alliance, and the squadron who brought the evidence to their attention has been invited along with me. It means that you have to wear a dress, sweetheart.” Leia announced. 

 

    “What? What about uniform?” Rey asked frantically, the thought of being put back into a dress weighing on her. She hadn’t liked dresses since she was about three years old when she wanted to be like her mother and grandmother, but as she grew older and started to see all the fun Ben would have with their father flying and rough housing, Rey  _ hated _ dresses since they limited her movement. 

 

    “Oh, the men can go in uniform, but the ladies all have to get dressed up, trust me, it wasn’t easy to explain this to Jess and Karé either, so you won’t be the only one grumbling about having to wear a dress.” Leia sighed. “Just, please don’t be difficult with this Rey, the ball is just for a few hours in a couple of days, you don’t have to do anything other than wear a dress. Plus it’s on Naboo, I thought you’d like that much at least, you’ve always wanted to go back there ever since you were a little girl.” 

 

    Rey let out a sigh before shrugging her shoulders, she may have outgrown wanting to be a Princess, but she had always longed to go back to her grandmother's planet. “Okay.” Rey finally said. “I’ll wear a dress, no fuss.” 

 

    “Thank you.” Leia smiled at her. “Come on, let’s go.” 

 

    “Where are we going?” Rey asked. 

 

    “I’m taking you girls to Hosnian Prime for a few hours, you don’t exactly have dresses just lying around here.” Leia said. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey hated every second of wearing the dress, not to mention that not only did the men get to wear their uniforms, but they got to fly their X-Wings out there while the girls went by transport with Leia. Rey knew it was difficult enough to already wear the dress, flying an X-Wing was probably not the best thing to do while wearing the dress she had been put it, but she would have at least tried. Jess seemed a little more upbeat despite everything, she loved her dress and said it was a nice change from the usual flight suit, even Karé was coming around to wearing a dress; Rey was still trying to keep herself from wanting to rip the thing off of her, she felt so exposed and vulnerable in dresses where her mother would always wear them with strength and grace. 

 

    “Don’t worry Rey, it’s just for a few hours.” Jess tried to assure her before a mischievous grin started to spread across her face. “Plus, I don’t think Poe will mind.” 

 

    Rey started to flush a deep red, did everyone on the base seem to know that she liked Poe? How did they know? Was it just that obvious or did Poe manage to tell the entire galaxy that they liked each other? 

 

    “He’s my friend.” Rey tried to brush it off. 

 

    “Your friend that talks about you every moment he can and refused to leave your side while you were unconscious.” Karé joined in as well. 

 

    “Just friends.” Rey stated again. 

 

    “Well, I’m sure that will change after he gets a look at you tonight. In fact, I think we should all take the chance tonight to break some hearts, it’s not everyday we get to look this good.” Jess smirked. 

 

    They were all wearing beautiful gowns, Rey had to admit that she did think her dress was pretty, just not something she’d ever really picture herself wearing or have the confidence to wear before finding herself in it tonight. Jess was in a dark green dress with slits at the side of her waist and showing off her bare shoulders with her hair done in a beautiful braid that she had managed to do herself. Karé was in a similar cut dress without the slits at the side and it was a bit simpler in design though she looked beautiful in the jet black dress. Rey was talked into the dark blue dress she was currently wearing, a combination of her mother, Jess, and Karé telling her that she just had to wear it because she looked stunning in it. She didn’t mind the front of it, covered in crystals that formed intricate designs, what she minded was the open back that nearly went down just a bit too far for her liking  and was held together with thin silver chains that draped down and were always a bit too cold when they hit against her skin. Even her hair wasn't as it usually was, Leia insisting on her wearing it down for a change and in loose curls, complete with makeup on her face that she could barely stand. 

 

    Rey tried to simply shrug off Jess’s comment, though she had been thinking about the actual status of where she stood with Poe ever since that night in the medical bay. All they had said was they liked each other, no kiss or other romantic exchanges between them, things had been mostly the same except for Poe constantly putting his hands on her to hold her just a bit closer to him. 

 

    “I just can’t wait to get out of this dress.” Rey sighed. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    The Senate Ball had been as Rey expected, mind numbing and dull, even with her friends from the squadron there, they weren't allowed to do much of anything other than stand and pretend they were glad to be there. After the necessary introductions and shallow conversations, Rey slipped away to go explore the building, not being surprised when she stumbled upon portraits of her long dead grandmother - Padmé Amidala. She stared at a few of them, she looked just as beautiful in the portraits as everyone had said she was in life, but Rey couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness upon seeing those portraits; she would never know her grandmother, not truly. Anakin she was able to see from time to time as she had on Tatooine, but she had never seen Padmé, she never heard Luke or Leia speaking about having seen her either. She knew seeing someone who didn't have the Force in life was rare, it took more effort for them to appear, or so it was said, but she still longed for seeing her, just once, after all when she was a child she only ever wanted to be like her, until she was introduced to the thrill of flying. 

 

    “Sneaking out, are we?” Poe's voice startled her and caused her to jump before realizing it was him fully, he wore his usual proud smirk on his face, and Rey had to admit he looked pretty damn good in his uniform. 

 

    “Just trying to get away from everything in there.” Rey groaned. “You can only listen to so much of their political talk before you want to die from boredom.” 

 

    “I don't mind it that much, it's important to know what's going on, but after a while it does get a little boring.” Poe admitted. 

 

    “Believe it or not I actually wanted to be like her when I was little.” Rey gestured towards the mural of Padmé on the wall. “Her and my mother were my heroes, still are really, but I could never do what they do.” 

 

    “I'm sure you could, once you got past all the boring stuff.” Poe laughed a bit. “You...uh, you look beautiful tonight. I mean, not that you don't any other time or anything, you're...kriff, I'm just gonna stop now.” 

 

    “Thank you for the compliment.” Rey smiled and contained a laugh, Poe was stumbling over his words and blushing, maybe being stuck in her dress wasn't so bad after all if it got this reaction out of Poe. 

 

    “Would you like to dance?” Poe asked, still looking a bit flush from his stumbling of words before. 

 

    “I'm not a very good dancer, your feet will thank me for passing on that. I took lessons when I was little but...well, you can ask my father about how badly that always ended.” Rey sighed. She'd always been a terrible dancer, for a while when she was a teenager it wasn't so bad since the Jedi training had given her some better footwork, but she was still awful, and the last thing she wanted to do was embarrass herself yet again in front of Poe. 

 

    “Well, would you like to go for a walks then? I wandered around a bit earlier and found this garden outside.” Poe said. 

 

    “That sounds much better than the dancing.” Rey smiled. 

 

    Poe hooked his arm around hers and started leading her outside. She didn't mind the closeness, in fact, Rey found herself leaning into him a bit more than usual. They didn’t talk much on their way out there, mostly just enjoying the closeness they shared, and it wasn’t until Poe led Rey to a bench in the garden that they sat down and finally talked again. 

 

    “Can I ask you something?” Rey blurted out, the thought having bothered her for days now, and since things seemed so pleasant between them now, she figured it was the perfect time for an explanation. 

 

    “Sure, anything you want.” Poe nodded. 

 

    “When I woke up in that hospital bed, you said that you liked me, and...we sort of...had this moment? I thought you were going to kiss me or something.” Rey tried to explain. “I’m not sure if you meant for that or if I was just imagining that situation or...it’s just been bugging me is all.” 

 

    “Oh, did that make you uncomfortable?” Poe asked a bit nervously, inching away from her now. 

 

    “No! No, it didn’t.” Rey assured him, though he stayed away from her on the bench now. “I just...I don’t know. I guess I...I just wanted to know why you didn’t kiss me.” 

 

    “Really?” Poe asked curiously, making Rey’s heart drop out of fear that she had just imagined things and that Poe didn’t really like her in that way at all. 

 

    “It’s a stupid question, I just misinterpreted something I guess, can we just forget about it?” Rey quickly said, wanting to escape already and try to hide her growing embarrassment. 

 

    “No, it’s not a stupid question.” Poe quickly assured her, grabbing ahold of her hands to keep her beside him as he inched closer back to her again. “I - you weren’t imagining things, I wanted to kiss you.” Poe finally admitted. 

 

    “You did?” Rey asked, surprised by his answer. 

 

    “I did.” He assured her with a faint smile. “I didn’t kiss you because...I thought maybe you were just saying what you said because you were still out of it. And I didn’t want to just bombard you as soon as you woke up...and then I chickened out.” Poe sighed. “I didn’t know what you really thought, and I didn’t ask because I just assumed-” 

 

    “That if you didn’t ask things would just go back to normal?” Rey asked. 

 

    “...Yeah.” Poe nodded. “I’ll have you know that I’ve never been more nervous around a girl in my entire life then when I’m around you.” He smirked. “I’ve never backed down from anything before and then...you just look at me and it’s so hard to tell what you’re thinking, whether you still hate me or not - at least a little bit - and I just freeze up.” 

 

   “The most brave and daring pilot in the Resistance, and I’m the only one who manages to make you nervous.” Rey smiled softly over at him now, staring right into his dark brown eyes and wanting to just lean over and kiss him right then and there. 

 

    “That’s an achievement you know.” Poe laughed before his face turned a bit more serious. “When I saw you get hit that day and go down, I was so afraid that you were dead. I didn’t want to lose you, not just because you’re a member of my -  _ our _ \- squadron, but because I didn’t want you to die before you knew that I...that I had feelings for you.” Poe tried to explain. 

 

    “Oh.” Rey was a bit taken aback by how open he was being with her now, his eyes conveying nothing but sincerity, and realizing just how much he stood by what he was saying made Rey’s stomach twist up in knots. 

 

    Poe was getting closer to Rey by the minute, her nerves only building up a bit more, and before Rey could reconsider and Poe tried to back out again, Rey wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. She had been kissed before, it was something in her skillset for romantic encounters, though anything beyond that would be new and foreign. She’d only ever been kissed by one other person in her life - some boy from the Jedi Academy that she had long forgotten already - but in their brief time she had to admit that she had gotten pretty good at kissing, it was all they ever did after all. Rey kissed Poe until the breathing situation had become a bit desperate, despite how good it felt and how much she loved Poe’s calloused hands drifting from her waist and touching her bare back. She was more than glad that he kept his hands there when they parted, desperate to get air but still looking at each other and knowing that something had finally shifted between them. Rey didn’t know if it was the wisest thing in the galaxy to be romantically involved with someone she worked with everyday, it was probably a horrible idea, but it was something she wanted to try; she felt this undeniable spark of something with Poe and wasn’t going to let it just pass her by only to regret it later in life - she at least wanted to try and make this work, whatever it may have become now. 

 

    Rey was half tempted to kiss him again after catching her breath, the way he was looking at her lips and letting his hands wander a bit down her back made the thought far more tempting than anything else. But she felt this stirring in the back of her mind that was more than familiar, it had been a secret form of communication between her and her mother - the benefit of the both of them having the Force; Leia needed Rey to pull her away from some conversation. Leia had taught Rey this since she was child and went to parties like these with her, she’d send a certain feeling of something similiar to a call for help through their bond and Rey was to go and pull her out with whatever excuse she could think of. 

 

    “We should probably go back inside, I’m sure they’ll be whispering about us already as it is.” Rey mumbled though she couldn’t help but smile when she saw Poe grin. 

 

    “They’ve already been talking about us for a while I think, but you’re probably right. We should get in there before they start making up stories for why we’ve been gone too long.” Poe sighed. 

 

    Poe rose from the bench first, offering his hand to Rey which she gratefully took and held onto tightly when she first stood up, feeling a lingering twinge of dizziness, but nothing compared to how it had been. Poe hooked their arms together again, this time unafraid to hold Rey as close to him as he wanted, and Rey enjoyed every second of it. They were almost back inside the ballroom, passing the mural of Padmé again, when Rey stopped Poe dead in their tracks to look at something she couldn’t quite believe. There in front of her was a barely visible and ghostly blue Padmé Amidala standing before her, the ghost of her was very weak, though Rey could just feel that she was struggling to keep this form. 

 

    “What’s wrong?” Poe asked her, unable to see what she was seeing. 

 

    Rey didn’t answer and just continued to marvel at the sight before her; she looked exactly as she had in the murals, and fit the description she had been told by most of her grandmother - that she was beautiful, but sad, wise beyond her years and gone from this world far too soon. Her mind became consumed by feelings that were foreign to Rey’s mind, they were things she had experienced, but it was all distinctly not hers, it was Padmé’s. She felt afraid, almost as if she wanted to convey a message of warning though she couldn’t speak, but she also felt something warm and loving - something similar to what she felt from her mother - a mother’s love. She was gone far too soon, flickering out of sight in a matter of minutes, and all Rey could wonder was why was she so afraid? Was she trying to warn her of something? 

 

   “Are you alright?” Poe asked, his voice pulling Rey back to the present. 

 

    “Yeah...I’m fine.” Rey nodded. “I just saw someone.” 

 

    “Force ghost?” Poe asked. “Who was it?” 

 

    “My grandmother.” Rey said and glanced towards the mural beside her. “I think she was trying to warn me about something but she couldn’t talk, she was too weak. I don’t know what she wanted me to know.” 

 

    “Have you ever seen her before? Maybe she’ll come back to you later and tell you.” Poe offered. 

 

    “No, I’ve never seen her before, which only makes me more worried because if she hasn’t come to me before, why would she come now and make me feel so afraid?” Rey questioned. 

 

    Poe seemed to sense how distraught this strange sight made her and pulled her close to him, pressing a kiss to her forehead and wrapping his arms around her to fully embrace her. 

 

    “I’m sure it’s fine. Sometimes a Force ghost just relieves an emotion they felt last right? Maybe she was afraid before she saw you and that’s what you caught.” He tried to dismiss it. “Everything’s fine.” 

 

    Rey didn’t know how Poe managed to make her feel so calm in a matter of seconds, no one had been able to do that to her, not even her family. She lost herself in the embrace and let go of the anxiety Padmé had brought with her, hugging Poe back and relaxing in the warmth that radiated from him. As soon as Rey’s thoughts leveled out again, she felt Leia’s tug at the back of her mind and she knew she had to save her from whatever horrible conversation some Senators had dragged her into. 

  
    “I’m alright, let’s just get back in there.” Rey said with a sigh. 


	10. Love in the Time of Chaos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, so for some reason I had a really hard time writing this chapter? I was going through some writers block and it was like pulling teeth to get this thing done. But I finally did! Thanks to a lot of help and my mind finally coming up with something to wrap this chapter up with, and it didn't turn out short like I thought it was going to! I hope you guys like it, I always love to hear what you think <3

    Leia had gotten used to letting her children go, she didn’t like it in the least, but if it was for the better of things, Leia had slowly learned how to let go of her children just a bit. When Ben left she always knew that he would come back, he was her son despite his best efforts to be more like his father, he was always just  _ her _ Ben; when Rey left however, that was different. Rey was always a passionate ball of fiery, she wanted to know and see everything, the galaxy was hers to explore; she had undoubtedly inherited her father’s need to be free. The day that Rey left for Luke’s Academy, she feared she would never see her again, she would be out there and a part of the world, wanting to see everything and having no desire to come back to her family. The older she got however, the softer she noticed Rey had become for the better, she still loved to be on the move, she loved to see new things, but she also had a desire to now be still. 

 

    Now however, the time had come for Ben to leave again, and while she didn’t know where he was going to venture next for more information on the First Order, she knew where he was heading now for now, if only it was for a short period of time. 

 

    “Does she know what you're doing out there?” Leia questioned her son, it was early in the morning - so early that most of the base was asleep - and it was about the only time she could talk to Ben openly about his matters. 

 

    “No, she’d worry too much.” Ben smirked. “I haven’t told her, but I think she’s starting to sense it.” 

 

    “Well, you should probably tell her before she finds out some other way, you know what your father always says, and for once he’s right about it.” Leia couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “She’d be better off knowing instead of worrying.” 

 

    “I’ll tell her.” Ben assured his mother, only to be met with her glare. “I promise, I’ll tell her this time.” 

 

    “Alright.” Leia sighed. “Be careful out there.” 

 

    “I will.” Ben went and gave his mother a hug before heading back to his new and improved A-Wing. “Keep an eye on Rey for me.” 

 

    “I always do.” Leia grinned. 

 

    Ben took off shortly after their goodbyes, walking back into the control room and knowing that soon the base would be coming to life. They had gotten more help from the New Republic since the Senate Ball, and today they were getting a load of new pilots and troops straight from the Academy that would keep just about everyone around the base busy. She knew Rey wouldn’t be happy that she had missed Ben leaving, Han would give a few grumbles but he had gotten used to it by now as Leia did, and Chewie would of course be a bit upset as well. 

 

    “General!” The familiar and always slightly panicked voice of C-3PO called out to her. “A message has just come from the Senate about the status of the new recruits.” 

 

    “They send a status report for everything.” Leia sighed. “Alright, I’ll look over it, again.” 

  
  


* * *

  
  


     The days only seemed to get more and more chaotic as they passed, or so Rey felt that they were. She couldn’t remember the last time she saw anyone standing still, everyone was always doing something - and most of everyone was busy training the new troops. Rey had been asked to help out with the training from time to time, and she was more than happy too, but actually spending time with someone was more than difficult. There was one person in particular that she wanted to spend time with, but naturally he was the most popular training Commander on the base, which meant Rey may get a few minutes with him at lunch and that was all. 

 

    It had been almost two weeks now since they kissed, and their time spent together since then had been brief. They would try to steal moments here and there, more often than not it would end up being for only a short minute before Poe was called away to train, and Rey would be called away to some other training division. More often than not, Rey felt the familiar tug of loneliness now, though there always seemed to be a little round droid that had taken to her that would manage to find her every time.  

 

    “Hey, buddy.” Rey grinned as she kneeled down to meet BB-8, something she had picked up from spending time with Poe. 

 

_ [Friend-REY, I sEeM to be e-e-experiencing iSSues w-witH my coMunicAtion m-m-matrix.] _ BB-8 chirped out in clipped beeps, ranging in tones before he popped open one of his ports and Rey saw his communication chip actually smoking. 

 

    “Have you talked yourself out?” Rey asked with a bit of a laugh. “Come on, let’s get you a new chip.” 

 

_ [T-t-t-thanK yOu.] _ BB-8 replied. 

 

    It didn’t take long for Rey to fix BB-8 once she got him to the droid repair room. She pulled out his old chip, which was still smoldering a bit, and had to patch up a few other wires that fired which caused the chip to malfunction in the first place. But once Rey got the new chip in him, he was back to talking up a storm as his usual self, more than grateful that Rey had repaired him. 

 

    “It’s not a problem, Beebee-Ate.” Rey smiled and decided to just sit on the ground with him for a bit, finding herself to feel more useful in the droid repair room than anywhere else lately. “You know I’d fix you up whenever you need it.” 

 

_ [Thank you, Friend-Rey. I tried to ask Friend-Poe earlier, but he has been so busy and so tired lately. I know he misses flying and that he misses you very much.] _ BB-8 told her, his beeps a bit sad. 

 

    “The training will be over in a few days, everything will go back to normal after that.” Rey told the droid what she had been telling herself ever since the chaos erupted, though there had been a nagging feeling in the back of her mind telling her that it wasn’t. 

 

    They had spent a few minutes chatting before a droid that looked similar to Luke’s R2-D2 roamed into the room and started beeping excitedly before zooming back out and returning with Poe at it’s side. 

 

    “There you are buddy, I’ve been looking all over for you!” Poe exclaimed as the other droid rolled away, it’s duty fulfilled. “I should have known you’d find her.” He smiled a bit softly over at Rey, Rey had come to love that gentle smile that he seemed to use only around her now. 

 

    “His communication chip was fried, couldn’t have him rolling around like that.” Rey smirked. 

 

    “Thanks.” Poe sat down beside Rey now, BB-8 invading their space and deciding to settle between his two favorite people in the galaxy. “So what are we doing down here exactly?” 

 

    “Escaping the chaos out there.” Rey sighed. “And trying to keep myself busy.” 

 

    “The General told me that tomorrow is the last day of training, so after that we can get back to training with our squadron, things will slowly get back to normal, and we have all the extra support now. Not to mention you get to fly your shiny new X-Wing finally.” Poe smirked. 

 

    “Mmm, I have to admit I’m a bit jealous, you’ve got to fly around in yours already but I’ve only been able to sit in mine so far.” Rey laughed. 

 

    “Help me train the new pilots tomorrow, you can fly up with us.” Poe offered. 

 

    “I just might take you up on that. I get to fly my new toy and spend time with my favorite Commander.” Rey’s grin was a bit more mischievous this time and Poe seemed to catch it right away, he was starting to get a glint in his eye that meant he wanted to just lean over and kiss her, but their moment was interrupted as it often was anymore. 

 

_ [You two are my favorite Commanders as well!] _ BB-8 chirped, reminding them that the little droid was in fact still between them, and though they were both a bit disappointed at the moment shattering, they were also more than amused with their favorite droid. 

 

    “Thanks, Beebee-Ate.” Rey laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of the little droid head which prompted him to let out a series of happy noises. 

 

    “I can’t believe my droid is stealing kisses from my girlfriend.” Poe mumbled with a smirk. 

 

    It was the first time Rey had heard him call her his  _ girlfriend _ , it wasn’t something that she would have ever thought of making her happy before, but with Poe, it made her heart beat just a bit faster and caused a broad grin to form on her face. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to Poe’s cheek, trying her best not to laugh when she noticed him blushing a bit. 

 

    “I have enough kisses for the both of you.” Rey promised him as she took a hold of one of his hands and weaved her fingers between his. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


_ Rey was home, it wasn’t necessarily a familiar place, or the place she had grown up in on Hosnian Prime, but she felt that it was home. It was a home that radiated warmth, it felt lived in and liked it was loved - it made Rey comfortable to be there even though she felt it was empty. Rey walked through the home until she felt something start to pull at her, a strong force that tugged her towards the back door of the house. When she stepped outside, she realized it was a planet familiar to her, her mother had taken her here on a few occasions to see the old Jedi temples, though they had once belonged to the Sith, and her father had taken her and Ben out here for flying lessons on more than one occasion - it was Yavin 4. She didn’t know the house she stepped out of, but she knew the tree that was before her, she felt the Force radiating from every inch of it. Rey only ever seen one Force tree in her life, and that was on Ahch-To; though she knew her Uncle had been trying over the years to spread Force Trees around the galaxy again, she had never seen another one until this tree.  _

 

_     Rey walked up to the tree and gingerly laid her hand on it, feeling the Force underneath her hand, like it was electricity dancing inside of the bark. She closed her eyes for a brief moment just to feel the energy and try to understand what it wanted from her, but when she opened her eyes, something very different was beside her. There was a woman, as pale as death, her long brown hair in perfect curls with tiny white flowers throughout her hair. She was also wearing a long blue gown that trailed behind on behind her. It wasn’t until Rey registered her face that she realized who it was appearing to her again.  _

 

_     “Rey.” She stated, her voice weak.  _

 

_     “Padmé?” Rey questioned.  _

 

_     Padmé took Rey’s hand though her grasp was cold as ice; Rey knew she was probably fighting hard enough to be here much less think about anything else.  _

 

_     “There’s something dark out there, something evil.” Padmé was rushing to speak, though Rey could see the true fear in her eyes. “You need to protect the people you love from it. I couldn’t, but you must before it’s too late.” _

  
    The connection to the dream snapped once Padmé conveyed her message, causing Rey to sit up in bed in a cold sweat, trying to tell herself that the dream was over and she was awake now. She had felt something trying to reach her since the day of the ball, she should have known that it was still Padmé, she knew that fear was there for a reason, and in her dream Padmé was finally able to convey her message. There was something dark out there growing in the Force, something that she couldn’t even feel yet, but apparently the ghosts in the Force could. Padmé knew better than anyone in the galaxy how darkness consumed those you loved, and she was simply trying to warn her family from something happening again as what had happened to Anakin. The question Rey had however was who was at risk? She said to protect the people she loved; she loved her parents, her brother, she loved her new friends, she...she was sure she was falling in love with Poe though it was too early to tell. Who was in danger on falling to the dark side? Who did she need to protect? 


	11. A Dark Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter is mostly just Damerey goodness :3 In the next chapter though I will be starting to move the story further along! Also, I've had a few people wonder about Finn, if he was going to be in this fic, and yes - he is! I'll bring him in soon, don't you worry, I've got some ideas for him; and so you guys know, he's not gonna have a Stormtrooper background for this, but I'll give him a backstory just as good that does him justice ;) Let me know if you guys like this chapter! I love to hear from all of you! <3

    Rey had been watching everyone as closely as she could without raising too much suspicion, she was even trying to pry into her connection with Ben more than usual to ensure he wasn’t who Padmé had warned her about either. It had been a few days, and while a few people seemed to question her strange behavior, most just brushed it off and carried on. She had been so caught up in her own worries now that she had completely forgotten about one of the people that was starting to really matter to her. 

 

    “Hey.” Poe walked up to her in the cafeteria with his usual smile, sitting down across from her and stealing a piece of fruit off of her plate. “I haven’t seen you all day, you even missed practice.” 

 

    “Kriff.” Rey hissed. “I’m sorry, I got caught up with...I got busy.” 

 

    “It’s alright, it’s not something we haven’t gone through already. I just wanted to see if you were okay, you’ve been acting weird the past couple of days.” Poe shrugged though the concerned look on his face told Rey that he was truly worrying about her. 

 

    “...Can I tell you something?” Rey was nervously chewing on her lower lip, she’d told Poe about Anakin on Tatooine, he knew about her seeing Padmé on Naboo, she shouldn’t be so scared to talk to him about this, but for some reason she was. 

 

    “You can tell me anything.” Poe reassured her, getting up from his seat and taking the one beside her now, taking a hold of her hand. 

 

    “...I saw Padmé again, in a dream, and she talked to me this time.” Rey’s voice was hushed and quiet, she didn’t want anyone other than Poe to know about this. 

 

    “What did she say to you?” Poe asked. 

 

    “She said that I needed to protect the people I love from the darkness, she said she could feel it growing in the Force.” Rey said. 

 

    “Was there anything else?” Poe questioned. “I mean, was she just there and gone or was there something else to that dream?” 

 

    “I was in a house at first, somewhere I’d never been. There was a Force tree in the backyard, that’s where I saw Padmé, when I touched the tree. And when I walked outside to go to the tree, I knew where I was, I’d ended up on Yavin 4; I don’t know why she brought me there, I hadn’t been there since I was a kid.” Rey shrugged, but when she looked over at Poe, she noticed that he froze. “What’s wrong?” 

 

    “Yavin 4, that’s my home planet. I was raised there, my mother planted that Force tree in our backyard, it was given to her by Luke.” Poe explained. 

 

    “So then...I was in your house?” Rey questioned. 

 

    “You must have, there are no other Force trees on Yavin 4, there aren’t even many in the entire galaxy.” Poe pulled away now, his face a bit pale, though Rey reached out and grabbed his hand again. 

 

    “I’m sure it didn’t mean anything being there, maybe she just needed the tree to talk to me, maybe that was the first one she could find.” Rey tried to rationalize it, other than let her brain even entertain the thought of Padmé’s warning being about him. It couldn’t be about Poe, she had never even thought of Poe when she was keeping an eye on everyone, she trusted his good heart more than her own families despite her deep love for them, she didn’t think of him because she couldn’t think of him going to the dark side. Poe was too good, whenever Rey was around him she felt this aura of being safe and happy, never had she felt a twinge of darkness, not even when he was angry or frustrated. 

 

    “Or maybe there was a reason why she picked the one right in my backyard.” Poe sighed and pulled away again, rising from his seat at the table with Rey. 

 

    “Poe, you said it yourself, there aren’t that many in the whole galaxy!” Rey exclaimed now, she didn’t care who looked, she wanted Poe to know that her warning couldn’t have possibly meant him - not even in a million lifetimes. 

 

    “You and everyone else in the galaxy knows what happened to your grandmother, what happened before she died.” Poe snapped, even when he lashed out, he was angry, yes, and not at Rey but more himself, but there wasn’t something more there. She didn’t feel fearful like she did when she was younger when Ben unleashed his rage, or even when her mother would let her anger run wild for a bit - there were the slightest twinges of darkness there that made her afraid, that made her watch them since her vision. Poe didn’t have that - he couldn’t be the one Padmé warned her of, but she knew the point he was trying to make. “The person she loved most betrayed her.” 

 

    “That could be my own family for that matter.” Rey’s voice was hushed again. “I love my parents, I love my brother, she could be warning me about them. I’m not afraid of you, there’s not an evil bone in you Poe.” 

 

    “You don’t know that! We’ve been together for a month, you can’t know that about me. What if I did? What if I could?” Poe questioned her now, and Rey had never seen him quiet this panicked or persistent about a matter until now. 

 

    “You won’t.” Rey insisted. “It doesn’t matter whether I’ve known you for a month or a year, I know that you wouldn’t do something like that. You believe in the Resistance, you believe in the New Republic, you believe in being good.” 

 

    Poe stayed silent and kept his eyes averted from hers, Rey studied him and saw the worry continue to run through his mind. Finally, he let out a sigh and shook his head. 

 

    “I’ve gotta go work on something.” He mumbled under his breath before walking off, Rey stayed put though she wanted to follow him, she could tell that he wanted to be alone for a bit and respected that. Though in an hour or so she was going to seek him out and assure him beyond a shadow of a doubt that her grandmother wasn’t warning her about him, despite whatever pointed to it otherwise - Poe Dameron was not evil. 

  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


    Rey didn’t know him, not fully at least, and while he never felt any desire to turn to the dark side and would never do so, her dream, or more vision, of Padmé had to have had something to do with his connection to Rey. Yes, it could have just been that Padmé’s ghost simply chose the nearest tree to speak to Rey through, but Poe didn’t believe that, the tree his mother had planted was powerful and held such strong meaning to his family that she had to have chosen that tree for a reason other than just to deliver her warning. Would he hurt Rey? Would something happen to him that would indirectly hurt her? Poe knew the possibility of dying from the day he joined the Resistance, he didn’t stress over that fact until he met Rey. He never told her because he didn’t ever quite understand it himself, but he knew he had the Force to some extent, not enough to qualify to become a Jedi, but enough to navigate his X-Wing with ease and feel just how deeply Rey had come to care about him in only a short time, and knew she could probably tell the same from him. The last thing he ever wanted to do was to hurt Rey. 

 

    He managed to avoid her most of the day after their talk, he could tell when she was getting close and would make a quick escape, though BB-8 would question why they were hiding from her. Whenever she got near he could sense her fear that she was trying to bury desperately, she didn't want to believe that Padmé’s warning was about him, but after he pointed out her grandmother's history, she had a seed of fear for him rather than of him. Eventually Poe knew he couldn’t avoid Rey anymore, he didn’t want to either, he wanted to be near her again, and if she had so much faith in him being a good person, maybe he should have some himself. Poe had settled on staying put in his room for once, filling out some paperwork that needed his attention and knew that Rey would eventually check here for him. Sure enough, a half hour later there was a gentle knock at his door along with the beeping of BB-8 who had more than likely set out on the mission to find Rey other than see if Leia needed any help as Poe had sent him out to do. 

 

    “Poe?” Rey’s voice came from the other side. “Beebee-Ate said you were in here.” 

 

    “Yeah, come in.” Poe replied, staying at his desk and trying to focus on reading what he was actually signing, though he’d much rather just sign it and set it aside with the rest to get through all these papers. 

 

    Rey entered the room, pulled up a chair, and sat down beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder right away. She was exhausted, probably from running around the base most of the day trying to chase him down, and for that Poe felt a bit guilty - he shouldn’t have avoided her, but at the time he just wanted a few moments to himself to think. 

 

    “You okay?” Rey asked with a yawn. 

 

    “Better than I was before.” Poe admitted. 

 

    “What changed?” Rey asked curiously. “Did you finally realize I was right?” A smirk played on her lips now. 

 

    “Well...yes and no.” Poe sighed. “I would never go to the dark side of my own free will, that much I know. But...I also realized that I’d never want you to get hurt again, that I’d do anything to keep you safe, and that could be dangerous.” 

 

    Rey let out a small yawn before wrapping her arms around him and pulling herself closer, making herself a bit more comfortable before pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I can take care of myself, Poe. You would never have to be put in a situation where you would have to do something horrible to keep me safe.” 

 

    “That’s the thing, I know you can take care of yourself.” Poe put his pen down and looked over at Rey now. “But what if something happens that you can’t control? What if your taken or being held hostage? There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to get you back.” 

 

    Rey glanced up at him, he could feel her prying into his mind a bit, trying to search for if he truly meant what he was saying, and he was more than glad to let her see just how much he had come to care about her. Poe imagined he felt the same way about Rey as his father had felt about his mother; he said that when they met, though Shara was a bit stubborn and daring, just like Rey, he knew he was in love with her the moment he met her, though it took him forever to work up the courage to say it out loud. Poe loved Rey already, he had from the moment he saw her in the control room months ago now and she didn’t fall for his charm right away, she fired right back at him and for some reason that made Poe love her more ever since. But he wasn’t about to say it out loud just yet, he didn’t want to scare her off, but if she could sense just how much he cared, perhaps that would be enough for now. 

 

    “I don’t want you to ever have to make choices like that.” Rey finally spoke. “Even if you ever did something horrible to save me, you’d never be the same, you’d never be able to live with yourself and I’d never be able to live with having made you make a choice like that.” 

 

    “If it came down to it, I’d always pick saving you, no matter the cost of it.” Poe assured her, a seriousness in his eyes, and when Poe made commitments to a cause or to someone, he meant them. It would tear him apart inside, but if it came down to it, Poe would do  _ anything _ to save Rey. 

 

    Knowing she couldn’t sway him of his firm stance now, Rey simply pressed another kiss to his cheek, only for Poe to capture her lips as she pulled away, wanting nothing more than to truly kiss her after spending nearly an entire day apart. It started out innocent enough as most of their kisses, and for once Poe didn’t even flinch when his little droid let out a surprised beep before speeding out of the room, wanting to give his friends privacy. But his hands found their way to her waist as Rey placed hers on his chest, and all was fine, Poe was about to break their kiss when he noticed that Rey was working on unbuttoning his uniform - something he had to change into for a meeting with General Leia not that long ago. She was about halfway through it when Poe decided to deepen their kiss and let his hands sneak up under Rey’s shirt a bit, finally giving in to the need he had to touch her skin again after their first kiss at the Senate Ball. She’d gotten his jacket unbuttoned and was trying to push it out of the way, her hands sneaking up under his t-shirt he’d worn underneath, and that was when Poe separated from their kiss slowly. He wanted to keep kissing her, he wanted to keep letting her hands roam wherever they wanted while he kept a firm hold on her - but Poe didn’t want to treat Rey like the many girls that had come before her, he hadn’t been in a serious relationship since he was in the Academy, but he remembered enough about being in one that sleeping with someone within the first month of the relationship wasn’t always the best thing to do, depending on the person. 

 

    Rey had a bit of a pout once they parted, she wanted to keep kissing as Poe had expected and she wanted to keep peeling layers off of him. Poe couldn’t help but laugh at her pout and steal one more quick kiss before pulling his hands away from her waist. 

 

    “Some other time, sunshine.” Poe was all smiles now, and Rey broke down and smiled too at the allowed nickname he’d given her, she made it very clear the first day after they kissed that she wasn’t one for nicknames, and as Poe ran through a list, ‘sunshine’ was the only one she deemed acceptable. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Poe couldn’t sleep that night, despite talking to Rey before dinner, his mind was still racing with scenarios in which he’d do anything to save Rey. He had gotten up for a midnight walk, that usually cleared his mind, but only found it getting more and more busy by the second. He thought that maybe talking to Rey would help again and he’d be able to go back to bed, but naturally, right as he walked down the hall where Rey’s room was, he ran right into no one other than General Han Solo himself. 

 

    “Sorry, General.” Poe mumbled, taking a few steps back, though Han seemed mostly unfazed. 

 

    “It’s alright, kid.” Han said gruffly. “What are you doing out so late?” 

 

    “Uh, just walking, trying to get some air, it was kinda stuffy in my room.” Poe quickly lied, he was always a terrible liar but hoped Han would let this one slide. 

 

    “Huh, yeah, that happens. So...you walk around the base then?” Han questioned. “I always found walking outside helping.” 

 

    “Yeah, I was going to head out there.” Poe replied. 

 

    “You’ve sure got a roundabout way of heading out there, if I remember right your room is right by an exit outside.” Han stated. “Rey’s hallway here is three or four halls away from an exit.” 

 

    “Uh…” Poe was stumped, he didn’t know how he’d lie his way out of this one. 

 

    “Kid,” Han placed a hand on Poe’s shoulder. “We’re having that talk tomorrow, at the Falcon around lunchtime, and if you don’t show up I will have Chewie drag you there, and he won’t be gentle.” Han warned him before walking off. 

 

    Poe was left standing there, silently frozen in place before he dared to walk again, still choosing to head to Rey’s room and knock on her door. Rey answered a few minutes later, yawning and half asleep, rubbing her eyes, and just wearing an oversized t-shirt and her underwear with her hair down for once, giving Poe a lot to imagine about later. 

 

    “What’s wrong?” Rey asked, suddenly a bit alarmed. “My data pad didn’t send out an alarm, did something happen again?” 

 

    “No, no, nothing happened.” Poe assured her. “I uh, I couldn’t sleep so I just came here to talk to you, if that’s okay. I shouldn’t have woken you up, I know, but-” 

  
    “It’s okay.” Rey smiled. “Come on in.” 


	12. Hidden Messages

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Alright, so originally this chapter was going to be super long, but, since I know how I am with my writing, it wouldn't have been great if it was super long and here's why - I don't want to rush what's going to come next. If I cram it all in one chapter, I know it'll end up shorter than I anticipated and not as good as I wanted. By separating what was once going to be two chapters into three (because I actually planned ahead this time), it'll be much better for everybody! So, enjoy this fluff until the next chapter :P

    It had been an interrogation more than a “talk”. Han asked Poe nearly every question he could think of off the top of his head, Chewie even throwing a few in there for good measure. What Han seemed to truly want the answer to was what Poe was doing lingering around Rey’s room in the middle of the night, and to that Poe answered truthfully - that he was just talking to Rey to clear his head and nothing else - though Han still seemed skeptical about it. For the most part in the days that followed, things returned to normal, though Han kept a closer eye on Poe and Rey whenever he saw them together. But regardless of that, Poe and Rey had gotten closer to one another, the two deciding to spend the night in one or the others rooms, just sleeping beside one another and finding comfort in knowing that someone was there if they woke up. Their kisses did linger a bit longer, and they perhaps got a bit more handsy, but Poe kept his control about him and was often the one breaking up the kisses before they escalated any further; and the threat from Han saying he’d blast him into the outer rim if he did anything to Rey that she didn’t want was still lingering in the back of his mind as well. 

 

    They were in the middle of one of those long and lingering kisses, Rey actually having gotten Poe out of his shirt this time, and Rey’s being slowly pushed up by Poe’s roving hands, when their data pads chimed simultaneously in Rey’s room - causing them to part from their heated kiss. 

 

    “Those things have terrible timing.” Rey complained as Poe pulled away, grabbing his shirt that had gotten thrown onto her bed, and pulling it back on. 

 

    “Can’t control when trouble decides to happen.” Poe smirked and pressed a quick kiss to Rey’s lips while she was straightening herself out before checking his data pad for the alert. “It’s low alert, I don’t think we’ll be heading out.” 

 

    “But it’s enough to drag us to the control room, right?” Rey asked with a sigh. 

 

    “Yeah, well, it’s hard to have a squadron meeting without the two Commanders.” Poe laughed. “It’ll just be a few minutes, we’ve had the rest of the day pretty quiet since this morning, and it’s just a low alert, after that we can do whatever you want. Though I think Beebee-Ate’s been feeling a bit neglected these past two weeks.” 

 

    “We haven’t been paying much attention to him, have we?” Rey asked. “I was thinking about meditating later, he actually likes sitting with me for that.” 

 

    “At least he does.” Poe mumbled and Rey couldn’t help but laugh and kiss him on the cheek. He hated meditation just about as much as she did, and since he didn’t have to do it, he was more than relieved  that his little droid liked keeping Rey company instead while she did so. 

 

    “Let’s go see what the problem is.” Rey took Poe’s hand and started leading him out of the room, smiles still on both of their faces and Poe more than happy to follow Rey wherever she chose to lead him. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    By the time Rey had gotten to the control room with Poe, she could already see a holo of Ben up on the projector in the heart of the room. Her first thought was that he was possibly in trouble again, or needed help, but he looked safe and unharmed as far as she could tell and assumed he was just calling in a report for everyone to see. 

 

    “Where’s Snap and Karé?” Poe questioned as he took his place beside Leia, Rey just on the other side of her. 

 

    “Later than you two for once.” Jess smirked. 

 

    Just as Jess seemed to speak, Karé and Snap appeared and took their places around the table, Rey being able to sense that something was up with them right away. 

 

    “Alright, well, now that everyone’s here, Connix got this message a few minutes ago from Ben, all she could tell from his location was that he’s somewhere in the Gordian Reach, still Outer Rim which is a good thing, it means the Order hasn’t moved too much, they’re still trying to hide.” Leia said as she started up the holo and Rey watched as Ben came to life on the projector. 

 

_ “I haven’t found anything like what was on Tatooine, they haven’t gotten that bold again - at least not yet. I followed their trail and it went cold out here, but I’ve got a few people who know where they went. I’ll send another update when I find something new.” _ Was all Ben said before the video ceased. 

 

    “I hope he doesn’t find something heading Mid-Rim.” Snap sighed. “The minute they head there that means they want themselves to be known.” 

 

    “This means we still have time then.” Karé blurted out. “If they’re still hiding and trying to rebuild what we all blew up on Tatooine, they aren’t that strong yet.” 

 

    “If Ben moves quick enough, we might be able to get the jump on these guys.” Jess stated. 

 

    “It’s just a waiting game again.” Leia mumbled. 

 

    “He’ll find something.” Rey said confidently. 

 

    The meeting didn’t last much longer before the squadron started to go their separate ways for the day again. Rey was waiting for Poe to finish up with Oddy and go grab some lunch with him and Beebee-Ate, when one of the bases droids rolled up to her and beeped to capture her attention. Before Rey could say a word, the droid ejected some sort of chip and held it out towards Rey. 

 

    “What’s this?” Rey asked. 

 

    The droid didn’t answer, it simply continued to hold the chip out towards her until Rey took it, which it then proceeded to roll away and go about it’s other duties. Rey shoved the chip in her pocket before Poe walked over to her, wrapping one of his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. 

 

    “You alright?” He asked curiously, she figured more because of Ben than anything suspicious. 

 

    “Yeah, I’m fine. But I’m starving, let’s go find Beebee-Ate and eat.” Rey replied with a smile she sort of forced onto her face while she was still wondering what the droid gave her and why. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey had gotten snuggled up in Poe’s bed that night, she liked sleeping in his room, everything smelled like him and just made her feel safe. Poe was in the fresher, and after Rey had changed into one of his shirts and got under the sheets, she called BB-8 over to her side. 

 

_ [Yes, Friend-Rey?] _ The little droid asked curiously. 

 

    “I need you to tell me what’s on this chip, but you have to keep it a secret, from everyone unless I say so, okay?” Rey asked hurriedly. 

 

_ [Okay.]  _ He replied, Rey taking the chip off the nightstand and handing it over to BB-8. 

 

    It took a minute for him to scan the entire thing before a little holo of a map abruptly appeared, only it wasn’t exactly a normal map. There was only one planet, marked and labeled with it’s name and coordinates, and beside it was a message. 

 

_ ‘Rey, I need your help. Please come alone and as soon as possible, I can’t do this without you. - Ben’ _

 

    It was Ben, he’d somehow gotten a droid all the way back at base to give her this message secretly. The planet, much to Rey’s worry, was Yavin 4 - Poe’s planet, and she wasn’t sure what could be there that required her help secretly, only something Jedi related would cause Ben to do this. She had to leave tomorrow morning, it would be tricky to leave, not so much because of the squadron, but because of Poe. Ever since she was injured on Tatooine, he was hovering over her like a hawk, and while most of it now was romantically and she didn’t mind, finding a way to convince him to stay behind, and preferably not tell him she was traveling to Yavin 4, would be a trick. 

 

_ [That is Poe’s planet, Friend-Rey.] _ BB-8 chirped as he ejected the chip and gave it back to Rey. 

 

    “You can’t tell him that I’m leaving tomorrow Beebee-Ate, or where I’m going. You know how he was when I told him about my dream, you can’t tell him about this.” Rey pleaded with the droid. “Please?” 

 

_ [...Alright, I will not tell Friend-Poe. But if you get in trouble, please alert me so I can let him know.] _ BB-8 bargained with her. 

 

    “Alright, thank you.” Rey said, pressing a kiss to his round dome. 

 

    Moments later, Poe came out of the fresher, his hair still wet from the shower, and changed into just a t-shirt and his boxers. 

 

    “What are you two up to?” Poe asked. 

 

    “I was asking Beebee-Ate if he’d join me on the next practice flight, he’s a great co-pilot.” Rey quickly lied, hoping that Poe wouldn’t pry into it. But sadly, unlike Poe, Rey was good at lying, and Poe went along with it no problem. 

 

    “Sure, he’s more than welcome too.” Poe smiled, sitting on the bed beside Rey and pressing a kiss to her cheek, the stubble from this morning long gone and replaced with his soft, smooth skin. 

 

_ [Goodnight Friend-Poe and Friend-Rey, my battery is very low, I must go charge for the night.] _ BB-8 replied before rolling over to his charging pad in the corner of the room. 

 

    “I think we should go to bed ourselves, I’m tired.” Rey managed a yawn before lying down in Poe’s bed, Poe following suit and getting under the covers to pull her closer to him. 

 

    Poe managed a yawn as well, only Rey knew he was exhausted, as she reached over and turned out the light, rolling over in bed to be face to face with him. “Love you.” Poe mumbled, his eyes already shut and falling asleep. 

  
    Rey figured it was the tiredness that let him slip that out, she knew he’d been holding it in for a while, and honestly she had as well. “Love you too.” She mumbled back with a smile before pressing a kiss to his nose and already being greeted with his soft snores.


	13. Only the Worthy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Oops, I split it again. (lame joke is lame) But what I thought would be two chapters has turned into three. Either way, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and, uh, don't hate me for the angst :P

_ A Jedi thing _ , that was the best that Rey could come up with to tell Poe as she was getting ready to leave for Yavin 4, there was a  _ ‘Jedi thing’ _ that she had to help him with and that she’d be back soon. She had told her mother of course where she was going and that Ben had found something important on the planet, but everyone else was in the dark as to why one of the Commanders of Twin Suns was going off on a solo mission into possible First Order territory. Poe knew she was hiding something, she could see the pleading in his eyes, begging her to tell him what was actually going on and where in the galaxy she was going so he could at least know, but Rey knew she couldn’t tell him - the minute he’d hear it was Yavin 4 and there was something Jedi related there, he’d be itching to go, especially given that he was still worrying about the Padmé vision though he tried not to think about it. They had kept their relationship mostly to themselves up until that point, when Poe pulled her close before she boarded her X-Wing and kissed her, not caring about all the eyes watching, even if one set of those eyes were her father who gave him a stern glare afterwards. 

 

    “I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise.” Rey whispered to him, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek one more time before turning to board her ship, and BB-8 following suit since Poe refused to let her go without the little droid. 

 

    “If there’s any trouble, anything at all, you have Beebee-Ate get a hold of me, alright?” Poe called up to her one last time. 

 

    “I will, I promise.” Rey assured him, waving goodbye to everyone else who had gathered to watch her leave, and finally sitting down in the cockpit. 

 

     Rey shrugged her jacket off - or rather Poe’s jacket that he gave to her for the trip this morning - and started getting the X-Wing revved up. She plugged in the coordinates that Ben had sent her and put her helmet on, getting ready to take off. She cast one last glance out the window, looking at all her friends and family waving her off, and she hoped that whatever Ben found was worth all of this trouble; Rey may have been good at lying, but she truly hated doing it. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    It was almost noon when Rey finally arrived to the coordinates on Yavin 4. She barely had room to land on the small island next to Ben’s A-Wing and the giant temple that stood before them. Ben was by the entrance of the temple, and Rey was in awe of it, she had seen Jedi Temples before, she had even seen Sith Temples, but she had never seen one so intact as this, and in fact, she didn’t even know there were temples on Yavin 4. 

 

    “What is this place?” Rey asked as soon as she disembarked her ship, BB-8 behind her as she walked up to the temple, finding it slightly mesmerizing. 

 

    “I don’t know, I followed two Stormtroopers out here, they went in and I haven’t seen them since.” Ben explained. “Figured I’d wait for backup if there was something strange in here.” 

 

    “Do you really think we should go in there?” Rey asked curiously. 

 

    “What else could we do?” Ben replied. 

 

    “We could call Uncle Luke, he’d know this place, he’d know if it was safe or not, some of these temples can be dangerous Ben, you know that. Plus, if two Stormtroopers have gone in and haven’t come out yet, don’t you think we should have someone who knows more here?” Rey insisted. 

 

    “Luke never told us about this place, he’d tell us to stay away.” Ben stated. 

 

    “Probably for a good reason then.” Rey said. 

 

    “Rey, this is our chance to see inside of an ancient temple, it probably hasn’t had someone with the Force set foot in here in years.” Ben said. “Do you really just want to walk away from this? There could be some artifact in there that could help us stop the First Order.” 

 

    “Or something could happen to us like whatever happened to the Stormtroopers.” Rey stated again. 

 

    “I’m going in there.” Ben mumbled, walking through the door without another word. 

 

    “BEN!” Rey shouted, watching him go deeper into the temple. 

 

    Rey hesitated at the door, she wanted to go in after him, but she also had this fear sinking in that going into that temple may be a grave mistake. She lingered there for another moment before Rey let out a long sigh and set foot inside the temple. As soon as she did so - she felt a cold chill take over her, and she knew something was wrong since BB-8 seemed to sense something as well. 

 

    “It’s okay Beebee-Ate, we’ll be alright.” Rey lied again, she knew there was something foul in this temple just from the way it made her feel, and now her brother was in here somewhere, she knew she had to find him and get him out - whatever was lingering in this temple was not something she wanted to be around any longer. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    From the outside the temple had almost seemed harmless, almost inviting, but as soon as Rey had set foot inside the temple, her gut feeling changed immediately. Everything seemed heavy inside, like the air was hard to breath and almost smothering, a cold chill running down her spine, and not to mention the feeling of dread that hung over the entire inside of the place. It was a Sith temple, beyond a doubt, and one that Luke had never told her about for that matter - which meant this place was nothing but trouble. Every bone in her body was screaming at her, wanting her to leave this place and never return, but Ben was in here - somewhere - and she wasn’t going to leave without him. 

 

    The temple was dimly lit by some eerie light that never seemed to flicker or fade, there were etchings carved into the wall, describing terrible events and terrible powers harnessed by the dark side. With each step further and further into the temple, Rey felt a fear begin to take over her, something she hadn’t felt since she was first sent to Luke on Ahch-To; she felt scared and alone. Yes, she had BB-8 at her side, but this fear that was sinking in was starting to become all consuming, she wanted to hyperventilate. Her fears were only confirmed when a stone door shooting up and out of the floor separated her from BB-8. 

 

    “Beebee-Ate!” Rey shouted, banging her fists against the stone, knowing it wouldn’t help, but it being the only thing she felt she could do. 

 

_ [Friend-Rey! Should I call Poe? We are in trouble!] _ BB-8 frantically beeped. 

 

    “...No, don’t call him yet.” Rey was starting to take slow and deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. “Just...wait here by the door, I have to find Ben. If you hear me yell, call Poe, okay?” 

 

_ [I do not like this plan, but okay.] _ BB-8 replied. 

 

    “I’ll be back.” Rey assured the little droid before working up the courage to walk away from the stone wall that separated her from freedom. 

 

    Rey slowly walked through the temple now, trying to stay focused on just finding Ben and leaving this dreadful place. She focused on seeing her mother and father again, on seeing her friends, on seeing Poe and wrapping her arms around him, his presence always calming and something she needed more than anything right now. 

 

    “REY!” She heard someone shout, her heart lurched as she started running through the temple. “REY!” 

 

    Rey was led to a crossroads in the temple, her mind racing and heart beating like crazy. 

 

    “REY!” The voice shouted again, coming down the left hand hallway, and Rey rushed toward it. 

 

    Rey ran with all her might, rushing through halls until her legs hurt and it was hard to breathe. Eventually she encountered the source of the noise - Poe. She knew it couldn’t possibly be him, it wasn’t, but seeing him there, or rather a vision of him really, it made her terrified. 

 

    “Poe?” Rey asked weakly. 

 

    In a matter of seconds, the vision of Poe was shrouded in darkness, disappearing into the dark mist until the dark cloaked figure that so often haunted Rey’s nightmares appeared in front of her. 

 

    “Poe?” Rey whispered. 

 

    The figure didn’t answer, but Rey’s fear returned and escalated as the hissing red lightsaber the figure so often toted came roaring to life. Rey couldn’t even think about moving until sharp pain from the red lightsaber struck her shoulder - normal visions weren’t like this, this was something different. Rey grabbed her lightsaber at her side and started dueling with the dark figure, not understanding how or why it was here, or why it used Poe to lure her closer, or even why the figure materialized around Poe; however her mind couldn’t linger on those thoughts until this dark vision was chased off. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    When Ben first entered the temple, he felt afraid, there was something heavy surrounding this place that he couldn’t quite put his finger on and it unsettled him. But after walking deeper and deeper into he began to feel...nothing; it was almost as if everything had become numb, and walking through the twisting halls was more of an inconvenience than anything else. He heard voices, he knew they weren’t real, but he heard voices of his father, snippets of the past, of his father saying he wasn’t old enough to fly yet, or saying that he couldn’t go anywhere with him because it was too dangerous; in Ben’s younger years - Han Solo was often gone more than he was around, and he saw how heavily that weighed on his mother. But when Rey came along, Han stayed, and his mother welcomed him back as if he’d never left, and while Ben had eventually gotten over Han’s abandonment in the earlier years, or tried to forget it, he still held a piece of resentment against him for being a terrible father when that was what he needed the most. 

 

    The voices eventually ceased, he figured it was because he ignored them for the most part, concentrating on finding the center of this temple more than it’s mere intimidation it threw at him. But then the temple threw something at him that he didn’t expect - something that he almost hoped wouldn’t be thrown at him. 

 

    “Ben?” A gentle voices calls out, one that makes his heart stop and refuse to turn to see the source of that voice - he already knew - and he knew the temple was trying to provoke him with this. “Ben?” The voice was a bit more desperate now, and he couldn’t help but face the vision, he knew what the temple might do if he didn’t look. 

 

    There she was - golden red hair and grey eyes, she looked so fragile but Ben knew she was anything but, that’s what he liked about her anyway in the first place, that she was tough. She smiled up at him, her eye shining and sharp features softening, she had so rarely smiled when they were younger, it was nice to see the smile she had just for him anymore. 

 

    “Tenel Ka.” Ben knew she wasn’t real, she was on Dathomir, he’d just seen her a week ago, she was taking care of her people, but she looked so real here, almost as if he could reach out and touch her, and he was so tempted to hold her close; his best friend, his wife, the mother of - 

 

    “Daddy!” A shrill childlike voice rang through the empty halls as a vision of a tiny girl with matching golden red hair and grey eyes appeared and charged towards Ben, wrapping her small arms around his legs and looking up at him with a smile. 

 

    “Hi, Allana.” Ben smiled down at her, she was too real, everything about her was exactly like his Allana, and everything about this Tenel Ka was exactly like his Tenel Ka - this temple was getting in his head too deep, but...they were so real. 

 

    He kneeled down and hugged Allana, this vision of her was so solid, the temple had too much power, he shouldn’t be indulging but...he missed them. He so rarely got to see Tenel Ka and Allana, despite her being his wife and despite Allana being his daughter, they had to keep things secret to keep Allana safe. Things were bad enough for being a known Skywalker descendant, he didn’t want Allana to face the same burnen he and Rey had to bear, he wanted her to grow up as a happy and normal little girl, as normal as a Princess on Dathomir could be. 

 

    “Ben.” Tenel Ka’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Come home, we need you.” 

 

    “...What?” Ben asked. 

 

    “We need you, there’s something in the Force, something dark, I can’t-” 

 

    She stopped short, her eyes gone wide and her skin paler than usual. 

 

    “Tenel Ka!” Ben shouted as a dark mist surrounded her and Allana, engulfing them to be shrouded with nothing but darkness. 

 

_ “You want to save your family?”  _ A voice from the darkness came through.  _ “Then save them, defeat the light, she wants to tear you apart.”  _ The voice snarled now. 

 

    Ben was about to ask what the voice was talking about when he felt a stabbing pain course through his body, he turned around and saw the small and slim frame of his sister - but there was something off about her. 

 

    “You’re so pathetic Ben.” Rey snarled. “You can’t protect your family, you’re as terrible a father as Han was to you. Only you’re not a good pilot, he’s so disappointed in that, and you’re not a good Jedi, you’re not strong enough to even have the title.” She sneered. 

 

    Ben couldn’t answer, it was like all his words were stuck in his throat, there was an anger boiling in the back of his mind, but it was more shock than anything else at the moment. Before he could spit something out, he heard something clang against the floor and a bright red light suddenly coming into his line of sight. It was a kyber crystal, Ben had seen enough of them to know that, he’d given one to Rey, and he has his own in his lightsaber, but this one was different - considered unusable to most Jedi - it was a cracked red kyber crystal. It couldn’t be harnessed properly, it would be unstable, but it would also be powerful if it was routed through a lightsaber the right way. Ben reached down and grabbed it, only to be met with a stinging sensation across his face and Rey’s humming purple lightsaber hanging in front of him. 

 

    “What? Too scared to fight me? You know I’m better than you, I always have been. Since the moment I was born I was always better than you.” Rey harshly laughed. “You’re worthless.” 

 

    That made the anger topple over, and Ben grabbed his lightsaber and started dueling with this cruel and twisted version of Rey that was all too real. It knew all his insecurities, how he always felt less than compared to his little sister, she was what brought their father back and he...he wasn’t enough. All that anger was unleashed as their lightsabers clashed, and all he heard was the dark voice in the back of his mind whispering  _ ‘kill her’ _ . 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    BB-8 was anxiously rolling back and forth, intently waiting by the stone wall to hear for Rey. He wanted to call Poe, he knew this was a bad situation and he had been in many before with Poe. He didn’t want Rey to get hurt, he didn’t want Poe to not know where they were, he just wanted Rey out of the temple - and then he heard a scream. Without hesitation, the little droid brought up an immediate link to his master and sent a frantic message. 

 

    [FRIEND-POE, DANGER. FRIEND-REY IS IN DANGER. WE ARE ON YAVIN 4, COORDINATES ENCLOSED, PLEASE RESPOND IMMEDIATELY.] 

  
    The droid was sure to label it a high priority message so his data pad would warn him, and BB-8 continued to nervously roll by the door, anxiously awaiting the arrival of his master to help save Friend-Rey. 


	14. It's All In Your Head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It feels good to actually write a long chapter again! A lot more action will happen in the next chapter, I promise, because - well, when you get towards the end of the chapter you'll know why ;) Also, I'm not a bacta expert, I have no idea how that stuff really works in the Star Wars universe, but I'm trying my best!

    Poe had been somewhat relaxed that night, if it hadn’t been for Jess getting a few drinks in him to calm his nerves, he was sure he would have been a mess right about now. He was relaxing in bed, trying not to let himself think about how Rey was doing or if she was alright, but all of that changed of course when his data pad started ringing out with a message from BB-8. Poe hurriedly grabbed the pad and opened up the message, and after one quick read he lept to his feet and changed into his flight suit - he had to leave  _ now. _ He ran through the halls of the base, not stopping for anybody except for the Generals that caught sight of him and asked him where in the world he was going. 

 

    “Whoa, slow down there kid, you’re gonna hurt yourself. Where’s the fire?” Han asked, grabbing ahold of Poe’s suit and pulling him back towards him and Leia. 

 

    “I got a message from Rey through Beebee-Ate.” Poe handed his data pad over to Han and Leia. “She’s on Yavin 4 in one of the old temples, she’s in trouble. I didn’t think that the temple was even still standing after Luke started with the Jedi training again.” 

 

    “The Temple of Exar Kun? That place is too dangerous for anyone to set foot in, why would they go in there?” Leia asked, panic-stricken. 

 

    “Something tells me it wasn’t exactly Rey’s idea to go in there.” Han sighed, casting a look over at Leia that had Poe wondering about why Rey and Ben were there in the first place. 

 

    “I have to go get her.” Poe stated with a sense of urgency. “I don’t know how much trouble she’s in, but I need to get to her before something bad happens.” 

 

    “I’m going with you.” Han grumbled. “Threepio, go get Chewie, we’re leaving in five.” 

 

    “General, you don’t-” 

 

    “Those are my kids locked up in that temple, I’m going. And you could use some backup, have you ever been in a Sith Temple before?” Han asked. 

 

    “No.” Poe admitted. 

 

    “It’s not fun inside those things, they like to get in your head, and if you go charging in there worried about Rey, I have no doubt in my mind that the temple is going to eat you alive.” Han stated. “We’re going in the Falcon, go get whatever you need ready to go, I’ve gotta check the engine before takeoff.” 

 

    “...Yes, General.” Poe sighed and gave a brief nod before heading out to the tarmac and trying to get things for the Falcon prepared. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Poe knew that something had gone terribly wrong when he saw his little droid sitting outside of the temple, rolling back and forth while anxiously awaiting for him to arrive. Poe had seen this temple before, he never dared to venture in it after the stories his mother told him about it, but he knew of it’s power and he knew what it could do to two highly Force sensitive people like Ben and Rey. As soon as Chewie and Han got the Falcon landed, Poe lowered the ramp and ran out to meet BB-8 who started spewing out a series of flurried beeps with information on what happened that he couldn’t fit into a quick distress message. 

 

    “Slow down there buddy.” Poe said as he kneeled down in front of BB-8. “What happened?” 

 

_ [Friend-Ben entered the temple first while Friend-Rey did not want to enter. She ran in after her brother and when we were a little ways inside, a stone wall separated us. Friend-Rey told me to wait until she really needed help, and I heard her scream and I heard her say your name so I sent the distress message right then. According to my timer they have been inside the temple for forty-two minutes.] _ BB-8 answered a bit more calmly, though Poe could still hear a twinge of distress in his beeps. 

 

    “Which way did they go?” Han asked, coming off the Falcon and hearing bits of the conversation. 

 

_ [Friend-Ben went to the right, and Friend-Rey was separated from me as the temple made her go left.] _ BB-8 replied.

 

    “The temple separated them, that’s not good.” Han sighed. “Alright, Dameron and Beebee-Ate, go try to find a way to Rey and get her out of there. Chewie and I will go after Ben, if you get out before us or vice versa, try to wait before going back in there for a bit. I’ve heard about this place, it’s a maze of tunnels and tricks. If it hits nightfall and we’re not out or you aren’t out, whoever is out will have to go back in.” Han explained. 

 

    “Okay.” Poe nodded in agreement, though he could feel something in the pit of his stomach telling him that them splitting up even more was a bad idea. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    The figure had surrounded Rey, she felt almost as if she couldn't breathe, and the eerie voice lingering in her mind, telling her that her parents were gone, her brother was gone, and that Poe was gone didn't make her feel any better. It kept torturing her with screams of those she loved while the dark figure tries to strike her down, the red saber slashing against her arm and causing her immense pain. Rey kept fighting back as best as she could, trying to convince herself that it wasn't real, though the pain felt real and the voices sounded real. 

 

    “You're not real, you're not real.” Rey whispered under her breath. “You're not real.” 

 

    “Do you think so?” The figure replied. “Care to see how real it is?” 

 

    The figures form shifted until she swore she saw a familiar face - 

 

    “REY!” She heard Poe's shouting, but this time the shadowy figure reacted and she knew it was real. 

 

    “Poe?” Rey called out. “POE!” 

 

    “Rey!” Poe's voice echoed through the temple. 

 

    The shadow disappeared and and Rey felt a weight lift off her chest, she was shaking but felt like it was easier to breathe as soon as she saw Poe rush up to her with BB-8 in tow. Rey slipped down onto the ground, the pain from her arm finally getting to her and sinking in. 

 

    “Rey, Rey it's okay, I'm here.” Poe assured her, kneeling down to her and wrapping his arms around her, holding her close. “I've got you.”  

 

    Rey didn't say anything, instead she just clutched into Poe and buried her face in his chest, trying to forget the dark shadow and the horrible things the voice whispered to her. Poe was solid, and real, not some evil shadow of the temple's design, it was  _ her  _ Poe, not the temple’s. 

 

    “What happened to your arm?” Poe asked as he slowly pulled away, staring at her burned and bleeding arm in horror. 

 

    “It's this place, I don't know what it is or what it wants, it showed me-” 

 

    “Don't worry about it right now.” Poe pressed a kiss to her forehead before unzipping his suit and tearing the bottom part of his t-shirt off to wrap her arm up. “Let's just focus on getting out of here, okay?” 

 

    “Where's Ben? I can't leave him in here.” Rey said, panic-stricken. 

 

    “Your dad and Chewie are looking for him, let's just get you outside and patched up, your dad made sure to bring enough medical supplies on the ship.” Poe assured her as he rose to his feet before leaning over and scooping Rey up, steadying her on her feet. 

 

    Rey wasn’t sure exactly what way Poe led her, but it certainly wasn’t the way she came in, and somehow she ended up back outside, Poe still holding onto her. He got her in the Falcon, no sign of her father, Chewie, or Ben in sight, and while she wanted to worry she felt to drained too at the moment, all she could focus on was how relieving it was when Poe put the bacta gel on her arm and the burning started to cease. After a few minutes when Poe wrapped up her arm again, she felt more clear-headed, almost as if the temple had been clouding her mind - and in all truth it probably had. She cracked a smile and grabbed Poe’s flight suit, pulling him closer before stealing a kiss and resisting the urge to laugh when she heard an embarrassed beep come from BB-8 before he zoomed off to another part of the ship. 

 

    “What was that for?” Poe asked with a twinge of a laugh and a warm smile on his face. 

 

    “You seem to have a habit of saving me.” Rey smiled back. 

 

    “Well, you have a habit of getting in trouble.” Poe remarked. 

 

    “The day will come when you're in trouble and I’ll finally have to save you.” Rey laughed a bit. “Thank you for coming for me.” 

 

    “What was I supposed to do? Let you wander those halls forever?” Poe questioned with a smile still on his face. 

 

    “I lied to you, I thought you’d be mad. I lied about where I was going and what I was doing and...I thought you’d be mad at me.” Rey admitted with a sigh. 

 

    “I’m not exactly happy about it, but at least you're safe. And if you had told me where you were going I wouldn’t have let you go.” Poe was a bit more serious now. “I used to be scared of this place all the time when I was a kid.” 

 

    “You know what this place is?” Rey asked curiously. 

 

    “The Temple of Exar Kun, it’s not exactly a cheery place. It when back and forth between being a Sith temple and a Jedi temple more times than I can count, it was always abandoned as long as I’ve been around, but my parents never let me go near it. I’d fly around it with my mom but never anywhere close to it.” Poe said. 

 

    Rey didn’t want to tell Poe that the shadowy dark figure in the temple had manipulated a vision of him. She knew how it got to him when she told him of the vision of Padmé at the Force tree here on Yavin 4; but she also didn’t want to lie to him anymore today, or ever again for that matter. 

 

    “Poe, the temple...when I was in there it made me see visions of you. I think it was just trying to get to me.” Rey sighed. “The dark figure that I keep seeing, I think it used you to lure me to it.” 

 

    “The same one with the red lightsaber?” Poe questioned, Rey had told him bits and pieces about the shadow. 

 

    “Yeah. That’s how I hurt my arm, it fought me, and before you came and got me it tried to show me a face, I only saw it’s eyes, but they looked so familiar.” Rey mumbled. 

 

    “...Was it me?” Poe asked hesitantly. 

 

    “No, no it wasn’t you, it could never be you.” Rey shook her head and pulled Poe closer to her, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing a kiss to his forehead. “You’re not anything like whatever darkness I saw in there. It was using you from my head, trying to get to me. It wasn’t a warning, it was to make me afraid.” 

 

    “You sure?” Poe questioned, a twinge of fear in his eyes. 

 

    “I’m sure.” Rey nodded, pressing another quick kiss to his lips. “You’re not a bad man, Poe Dameron, you never could be.” 

 

    Poe just gave a slight nod before pressing a quick kiss to Rey’s cheek and the two pulling apart. 

 

    “How long were you in that temple looking for me?” Rey questioned. 

 

    “About an hour, maybe longer.” Poe said. “Your dad said to wait until sunset, if they’re out not out by then...we’ll figure something out.” 

 

    “Okay.” Rey nodded, though she was still nervous about the entire thing. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    The sun was just about to set, Rey was anxious sitting on the boarding deck of the Falcon, curled up with her knees to her chest, biting her nails, and leaning on Poe to try and feel some comfort. Poe wrapped his arm around her waist and BB-8 sat by Rey’s side, sensing her anxiety. Rey was about ready to go charging back into that temple, but before she could, she was relieved at the sight of her father walking out, Chewie shortly behind and carrying an unconscious Ben. 

 

    “Dad!” Rey exclaimed and charged towards him, hugging her father tightly as soon as she could wrap her arms around him. “What happened to Ben?” 

 

    “It wasn’t good.” Han sighed. “He was rambling, going on and on about this dark thing that was taunting him, he wouldn’t calm down, Chewie had to take care of it, he’ll be fine.” Han reassured her. “I don’t know what that temple made him see, but he kept going on talking about you.” 

 

    “Me? I was in the other half of the temple.” Rey said. 

 

    “I know you were, I can see that, but the temple must have made him see you or something.” Han sighed. “Are you alright?” 

 

    “I’m okay, Poe took care of me.” Rey nodded. 

 

    “Good.” Han nodded, glancing over at Poe before looking back down at Rey. “Your brother had this on him.” Han handed Rey a folded up piece of paper, written in her brothers terrible handwriting. 

 

    “Who is Finn?” Rey questioned. 

 

    “No idea, but he’s got a meeting with him somewhere on this planet tonight from what I read there. Ben’s not gonna wake up for a while, I wanna get him conscious before we leave and see what was going on in that temple and what it did to him. It must have been someone  he was supposed to get information from before going into this godforsaken place. Do you think you and Dameron can handle tracking this guy down and seeing what he knows?” 

 

    “Yeah.” Rey nodded. “I’ll take Ben’s A-Wing, Poe can follow me in my ship.” 

 

    “Alright, just be safe out there, okay?” Han clapped Rey on the shoulder. 

 

    “I’ll be fine, I don’t think anything could happen to me even if I tried with Poe around.” Rey smiled and looked back at Poe, waving him over. 

  
    “Yeah...he’s a good kid.” Han mumbled. “Just, be careful out there anyway,” 


	15. The Rogue Smuggler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: YAY! I finished this chapter finally! I've been getting bits and pieces done all week but I finally sat down and got it finished :3 I hope you guys like it, I really worked hard on it :3

    The more Poe talked about his childhood home, the more Rey realized he never truly talked about Yavin 4 before. She supposed it was because they never really had the time - they were lucky enough to be able to sit and talk period - and it wasn’t as if Rey had told him much about her childhood either. But she loved the way his eyes lit up when he talked about running around here as a kid, or going on adventures with his parents, or just anything here on Yavin 4; he loved this place, and Rey wished she could truly call a planet home one day as Poe can other than just living on a planet as she had most of her life. They had settled in the cantina Ben was supposed to meet this so-called source named Finn, and Rey was on full alert, watching for anyone looking angsty as if they were waiting for someone else to show up. 

 

    “Everything is going to be okay.” Poe said, snapping Rey out of her trance-like state and back to reality; Poe holding her hand and giving her a warm smile - he was trying so hard to keep himself together for her, but Rey sensed his worry and fear deep down, knowing she had to be strong for him now too. 

 

    “I know.” Rey smiled back. “As long as you’re here with him, everything is already okay.” 

 

    Poe leaned over and kissed Rey, out of the blue and catching her off guard - a small squeak escaping from her from the surprise kiss. Before Rey could really kiss him back, Poe pulled away, still smiling and giving Rey’s hand a quick squeeze. 

 

    “Maybe if we have some time before we leave you could show me around here a bit more?” Rey asked curiously. 

 

    “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Poe replied with a smile. “As long as this Finn guy shows up soon, we’ve been here for almost an hour.” 

 

    “He’ll show up...eventually.” Rey sighed, she didn’t truly think he would after this long, but she wanted to hold onto some hope. 

 

    Poe put his arm around Rey’s back, pulling her a bit closer and trying to rub circles into the small of her back. Rey just wanted to lean on him and collapse against him, forgetting about all the terrible things the temple made her see and face. It manipulated her memories, pulled out her deepest fears, and it especially used her love of Poe against her, making him into this monster when he was anything but. She could never tell him that she saw his face when the dark shadowy figure tried to reveal itself to her, she had to hold onto that until whatever this shadow was had been stopped once and for all. Just as Rey was starting to let herself relax under Poe’s calming presence, a glass shattered against the floor in the corner of the room, and Rey’s attention was drawn to a gang of smugglers, all surrounding a lone man at a table that seemed completely calm and collected. 

 

    “Rey.” Poe said right away, glaring at her, almost as if he knew exactly what was on her mind. “Don’t go over there.” 

 

    “Six against one hardly seems fair.” Rey protested. 

 

    “It’s not our fight, and I don’t think it’d be wise to start shooting in the middle of a bar.” Poe sighed. 

 

    “Who said anything about shooting?” Rey asked, feeling her fists ball up the longer she stared at the scene, the group of men trying to intimidate the one, but the one man never seemed shaken for a second. 

 

    “You’re already drained from the temple, you can’t just go throwing yourself into fights.” Poe tried to calm her down. 

 

    Rey sat there and waited for a moment, watching the encounter, but as soon as the presumed leader of the gang slammed his fists down against the table, Rey lept up from her stool and stormed over to the group. 

 

    “REY!” Poe hissed, running after her, but reaching her a bit too late as Rey had grabbed the back of the coat of the leader and pulled him away from the table with ease. 

 

    “Girl!” The man hissed, grinding his teeth and practically snarling at Rey. He was older, probably close to Han’s age, but he had clearly been through much tougher environments, scars and tattooed markings covering his face and neck. “You got a problem with how I conduct my business?” 

 

    “Yes, you are conducting your business with unnecessary brute force. There are six of you, and one of him.” Rey pointed to the man sitting in the booth. 

 

    “Well, I’m countin’ three of you and six of us, seems like things evened out a bit.” He gave a smirk before his hand started to head to his blaster, Poe ready to grab his if things really went south. 

 

    “Boss!” One of the younger men in the gang called out, a panicked look in his eye as he grabbed the older man’s arm. “She-she, you can’t.” 

 

    “Why not?” The older man turned and snarled at the young man now. 

 

    “Look.” He pointed right at Rey, and Poe couldn’t figure out what he was trying to make known to the older man, to him it was just Rey. 

 

    The older man glared at Rey, squinting his eyes and staring at her for a while, before his eyes widened and he took a step back. “Oh, huh, Solo’s around.” He grumbled, straightening out his jacket, “Girl, you’ve got a temper on you just like your mother. Just so you know, that man you just saved is a thief.” 

 

    “Aren’t all smugglers thieves?” Rey questioned. 

 

    A grin appeared on the man's face before he let out a scratchy laugh. “You got her mouth too, Solo sure knew how to pick ‘em. Come on, we’re getting out of here, this thief gets to live another day.” 

 

    The gang members stalked away, some of them more than happy to run away from the repercussions they could face from Leia Organa and Han Solo if they harmed a hair on Rey’s head. 

 

    “You okay?” Poe asked, standing beside Rey now and taking her hand again. 

 

    “Yeah.” Rey nodded, it wasn’t the smugglers that bothered her, she was used to facing those types since she was a kid when she went on missions with her father before she realized she had the force, missions that Leia didn’t exactly know about. “Friends of yours?” She turned and asked the man who suddenly didn’t look so smug anymore, instead he looked serious, like he was ready to talk business. 

 

    “Sort of.” He sighed. “I didn’t exactly ever get what they wanted off of Coruscant. Instead I found out what another Solo was supposed to meet me here for.” 

 

    “My brother couldn’t make it.” Rey sat down in the booth, Poe following suit and looking a bit on edge, not exactly ready and willing to fully trust the smuggler types, unlike Rey who knew how smugglers worked. “I came here instead, you must be Finn then.” 

 

    “Yeah, and you must be Rey; the whole galaxy knows about you. Must be hard to hide with a name like Solo attached to you, even harder when you’re a Jedi.” Finn smirked. 

 

    “What did you find about the First Order?” Poe asked bluntly, wanting to get the whole meeting over with. 

 

    “Whoa, slow down there fly boy.” Finn laughed. “We’ll get to it.” 

 

    Rey reached out for Poe’s hand under the table and gave it a slight squeeze, letting her know that she had this meeting under control. 

 

    “Did you find anything interesting out there?” Rey asked a bit more casually than Poe, if she had learned anything from being around smugglers was they liked to be casual about their business discussions, they weren’t ready and willing to just blurt everything out right away. 

 

    “Yeah.” Finn sighed, reaching into his jacket, causing Poe to tense up a bit, but Rey rubbing the back of his hand to relax him, as Finn pulled out a chip, Rey grabbing her data pad at putting the chip in there to see the images that Finn had taken. “That’s their supposed General, I think his name is Hux. He was making some back alley deals with some not so savory people hiding in the shadows on that planet. Stormtroopers always following him, and there’s that one with the silver armor - I don’t know their name, but I know she’s got power of the Stormtroopers.” 

 

    Rey flicked through the pictures, seeing this so called General Hux and the silver armored Stormtrooper boarding a transport ship and getting off the ship, making deals with some known criminals of the galaxy, and some ambassadors who looked familiar, undoubtably people that Leia would know when Rey showed her these pictures. 

 

    “It makes sense, they lost their weapons manufacturing on Tatooine, they’re looking to make some alliances now to get more of their weapons built faster.” Rey sighed, turning the data pad off. “You’re a smuggler, I suspect you want something in return for this.” 

 

    “Just a cold drink, I’ve got business to get back to.” Finn laughed. “I want to stay as far away from the First Order as I possibly can, and if you guys were smart - you would too. I don’t want to be involved with any of this.” 

 

    “Then why did you help us?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Because, I think everyone needs to know what’s heading their way, it’s not good.” Finn replied. 

 

    “So you think everyone should just run?” Rey asked. “What about fighting them?” 

 

    “You look through more of those pictures back at your base and see why. If everyone was smart, they’d all run.” Finn said. 

 

    Before Rey could reply again, Finn got up from his seat, his drink in hand. 

 

    “Fly safe out there.” Finn stated before he walked off towards the exit, wanting to clearly get out of the place as quickly as he could. 

    “What’s on there?” Poe asked curiously, pointing towards the data pad. 

 

    “Just a bunch of pictures of that General Hux, I didn’t see the rest of them, we’ll look at them back at base.” Rey put her data pad back and rested her head on Poe’s shoulder, not wanting to move from their spot. “Can we just stay here for a while?” 

 

    “Yeah.” Poe sighed, pulling Rey closer and keeping his hand on her waist. “We can sit here for a while.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


    When Rey and Poe finally returned, Rey was more than relieved to see her brother finally awake, sitting upright and talking to their father and Chewie. 

 

    “Why didn’t you tell me about that? Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Han asked, engrossed in the conversation with Ben while Rey tried to listen in. 

 

    “It’s not...it wasn’t-” Ben stopped short upon seeing Rey and Poe in the doorway. 

 

    Han turned around and noticed them there now too, giving Ben a look that the conversation would continue later before standing up and heading towards Poe and Rey. 

 

    “So, did the guy show up?” Han asked. 

 

    “Yeah, we met him.” Rey handed the datapad over to Han for him to flip through some of the pictures. 

 

    “Leia’s not gonna like this.” Han mumbled before turning the datapad off and handing it back to Rey. “Let’s get home and get you two looked at by some doctors.” 

 

    “I’m fine.” Rey insisted. 

 

    “I know you are, you’re tough, but you know your mother is never gonna stop until you two are both looked at.” Han gave her a bit of a smirk before clapping her on the shoulder. “Let’s get back home.” 

 

    “What about the temple?” Poe questioned. 

 

    “...What about it?” Han asked. 

 

    “Look at what it did to Ben and Rey, we can’t just leave that thing here to torture people.” Poe insisted. 

 

    “Well what do you expect us to do about it? Just blow the thing up?” Han questioned, in more of a joking manner than a serious one, at least until he realized that Poe wasn’t kidding. “You’re serious, you want us to just blow up a thousands of year old Sith temple? Yeah, I’m sure that’ll work out fine for all of us.” 

 

    Chewie growled and groaned in agreement, followed by BB-8 agreeing with Chewie. 

 

    “You can’t just blow it up!” Ben said, standing up and wincing a bit in pain, Rey noticing him gripping his side which was wrapped up along with both of his arms.

 

    “We can’t just leave something like that standing!” Poe fought back. 

 

    “Poe, it’s been there since the Sith began, and it’ll still be standing along with all the Jedi relics long after we’re all gone. If we destroy that temple, all the darkness that’s held in it will be set free.” Rey tried to explain rationally, hoping to defuse the situation before it even began - and while she hated that temple, she knew the repercussions of blowing it up. 

 

    “That temple hurt you, it nearly killed Ben, look at him!” Poe was on edge, Rey could see it, he didn’t like what the temple had done, and Rey sensed that deep down, it made him more than uneasy knowing that this temple was on his planet and used his appearance against Rey. Rey couldn’t help the flinch she made when Poe got too close to her, he wasn’t angry, he was afraid, but his shout put Rey on edge and she sensed Ben’s anger spike through the Force before she could stop him. 

 

    “Hey!” Ben shouted, marching over to them and putting himself between Rey and Poe. 

 

    “Ben, calm down.” Han tried to say, Rey tugging at Ben’s arm to try and pull him away as well. 

 

    “Ben, it’s fine.” Rey was trying her best to convince him, but Rey knew Ben’s anger, as soon as it was sparked, it couldn’t be stopped until he let it out; not even Luke could help him truly tame his rage, and that was a dangerous thing for a powerful Jedi like Ben to posses. 

 

    “The temple stays.” Ben snarled. “If you get rid of it, it’s too dangerous for everyone in the galaxy. You can’t be reckless just because you’re afraid of what Rey saw in that temple; you can’t destroy it because you're afraid it’s telling the truth about what will happen to you!” 

 

    “BEN!” Rey pulled Ben back with all her strength, but Ben’s eyes stayed locked on Poe, still brimming with anger and rage. 

 

    “What do you mean what will happen to me?” Poe asked, his temper was long gone, and Rey had sworn that she had never seen Poe, the brave and daring Resistance pilot, look so terrified. 

 

    “You’re the dark shadow that’s been haunting my sister for months now, ever since she met you she’s been seeing that thing! It showed her your face in the temple underneath all it’s darkness, you shouldn’t even be part of the Resistance.” Ben hissed. “You haven’t even told anyone about your Force sensitivity, you’re afraid because that temple is telling the truth about you.” 

 

    “BEN!” Rey snapped. “Get out of our heads, now!” She got Ben to face her and as soon as he saw the anger on Rey’s face, he calmed down, Rey letting out a sigh of relief when she felt Ben pull away from her thoughts and his anger subside. “Enough.” 

 

    “Did you see that thing with my face in there, Rey?” Poe finally asked. 

 

    “...It was manipulating me Poe, it doesn’t mean anything.” Rey tried to explain, reaching out to Poe but he flinched away, looking like almost as if she were to touch him, that he would somehow hurt her even though Rey knew he would do anything but. 

 

    “Alright,” Han sighed. “Dameron, come fly this thing with me. Chewie, Beebee-Ate...keep these two calm back here.” 

 

    Poe followed Han wordlessly, and Han gave Rey a slight nod, letting her know that he’d talk to Poe while they were up there flying back to the base; it still didn’t make her feel any more at ease. She should have told Poe herself instead of Ben’s temper getting flared up and getting into her head, she didn’t know if Poe would be alright for a while, she knew he’d be thinking about all of this, but Rey just wanted her Poe back - not having to worry about the scared Poe Dameron that seemed to have taken over him for now. 

 

    “Sorry.” Ben mumbled, slowly sitting down while wincing in a bit of pain. “The temple...it got to me too.” 

 

    “It’s okay.” Rey sighed. “I should have told him myself. I’ll have to talk to him back at base.” 

 

    “...You really care about him, huh?” Ben questioned. 

 

    “Yeah...it’s different when you care about somebody, you know? You want them to be okay more than yourself.” 

  
    “Yeah, I know.” Ben agreed, thinking of a certain pair of red-headed girls he knew he needed to call at some point to let them know he was okay. 


	16. In My Veins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, uh, so full disclosure here, this is a smutty chapter, like 95% of it is, just thought I'd give fair warning for everybody so that if you just wanted to skip it and get to the non-smutty bit, you could do so! It's pretty much right where the line break is, it's the only one in the whole chapter. But for those of you who wish to brave reading the smut, go forth and do so, it's like 4,000 words by itself ;)

    Poe didn’t act out, he didn’t shut himself off away from Rey, and he didn’t seem to dwell, at least verbally, on what happened at the Temple of Exar Kun. But that wasn’t to say that it didn’t bother him, and Rey knew it; he was more quiet than usual - only talking when needed to Rey and still trying to put on the usual Poe Dameron front for everyone else at the base, he also made it a point to not really be in much physical contact with Rey - save for when they’re in bed together unconscious from exhaustion. It bothered Rey, and it seemed as if no matter how many times she told him the temple must have been tricking her, Poe never seemed to believe it; he would nod and say ok and whatever else he needed to assure Rey he believed her, but he never really did and Rey knew it. It was nighttime now, after a long day of patrols and Ben training with Rey, choosing to stay at the base for a while, both Poe and Rey were drained and ready to get some sleep - but Rey was determined, as she always was, to finally get Poe to understand that the temple was a trick. 

 

    “Do you believe me?” Rey asked; she was sitting on Poe’s bed, ready for bed in her oversized t-shirt and shorts, along with her dark brown hair falling down in waves framing her face after being trapped in their usual three buns all day. 

 

    “...What do you mean?” Poe questioned with his back still too her as he was changing out of his flight suit and getting into his usual t-shirt and boxers for the night. 

 

    “I mean about the temple.” Rey admitted with a sigh. “I know you still don’t believe me when I tell you it was a trick the temple used to try and manipulate me.” 

 

    “Rey, I believe you.” Poe stated a bit exhausted, he had probably said it hundreds of times in the week since the temple and was more than likely tired of keeping up the lie himself. 

 

    “You don’t.” Rey replied. “I know you don’t.” 

 

    “...Were you in my head?” Poe asked, turning to face her now. Rey had glimpsed in Poe’s head accidentally a few times, and Poe never seemed to mind, but intentionally digging through someone's head was something she  _ never _ did. 

 

    “No!” Rey instantly snapped. “You know I’d never do that without telling you. I can just... _ feel _ this dark cloud hanging around you. I know you’re still thinking about it and I know it’s still bothering you even though you say it doesn’t.” 

 

    “Rey-” 

 

    “Don’t. I already know what you’re going to say, you’ve said it countless times in the past week. I just want you to know that you can talk to me about it, because I hate knowing that you’re carrying around all this weight that you shouldn’t be, because you’re not dark or evil or anything like that - you’re you, not what some ancient temple manipulates an image of you from my brain to be.” Rey says, stopping Poe in his tracks and his gaze softening, Rey feeling a bit of relief through their bond that even let her exhale. 

 

    “Okay.” Was all Poe said, nodding his head a slight bit before grabbing a t-shirt from his closet and throwing it on before sitting on the edge of the bed beside Rey, his hand on her knee, and Rey leaning on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.” 

 

    “It’s okay.” Rey shrugged. “If our places had been switched I’m sure I would feel the same way as you, I’m just tired of trying to get through to you with speeches, I’d rather just talk. Or, really, I’d rather just lie down next to you and get some sleep.” A small smirk crossed her face and it only grew wider when she heard Poe chuckle before removing his hand from her leg and placing it on her arm to pull her closer, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. 

 

    “Sleep sounds good to me.” Poe finally said, Rey parting from his grasp and crawling over to what had officially become her side of the bed. 

 

    Before laying down, Rey crawled to the end of the bed and pressed a kiss to the top of BB-8’s head, who was already in sleep mode and charging up for the night before giving his usual scheduled wake-up chirp to both Poe and Rey in the morning. Rey got back to what had become her pillows, since Poe only ever used one and Rey practically surrounded herself with pillows to sleep, only leaving room to reach over and snuggle with Poe. She got under the blankets just as Poe reached over and turned out the light, rolling onto his side to face Rey and pull her close to him, pressing a few kisses to her nose, lips, and cheek before giving the usual goodnights. Rey had just gotten settled and comfortable for the night when Poe decided to become restless, his eyes shut but Rey knowing he was still awake, feeling the electricity of his restlessness radiating off of him. After a few moments, Rey reached over and stroked his cheek before pushing a few of his stray curls back and pressing a kiss to his lips to get him to open his eyes. His brown eyes were looking back at her through the darkness of their room by the time she pulled away from his lips. 

 

    “Can’t sleep?” Rey asked in a mumble, her hand still in his curls and trying to resist a shiver going down her spine as Poe’s hand absentmindedly traced up her back under her shirt. 

 

    “Yeah.” Poe answered back. “I’m exhausted and yet I can’t sleep.” 

 

    “Wanna talk?” Rey offered. “We don’t have to talk about anything important, just whatever you want.” 

 

    “I don’t wanna keep you up.” Poe said. 

 

    “Too bad, I’m up.” Rey smirked and Poe smiled back. 

 

    “You’re stubborn, you know that?” Poe asked with a laugh. 

 

   “I know, but I thought that’s what you liked about me.” Rey laughed in return, earning a kiss from Poe. 

 

    Rey thought it would be a quick kiss, that’s what always happened between them at night in bed and most times - short of occasionally finding a corner or room to hide away in and share and exceptionally long kiss that involved hands going where they normally didn’t. But it wasn’t just a simple kiss, it was one of the long kisses that Rey easily got herself lost in, returning his kiss and pressing up against him while his hand kept traveling her back, until it was almost impossible to keep breathing without taking a break. Even when they did part - Rey’s cheeks flushed and her body warm to the touch, accompanied by kiss swollen lips and her heart beating rapidly - Poe kept kissing her everywhere else he could reach. Her jaw, her neck, her shoulder that managed to become exposed due to her shirt being an oversized v-neck that Poe manipulated with his trailing kisses to his advantage. Rey couldn’t quite help the small moan that escaped from her lips as he was starting to kiss his way back up her neck, pausing on that one spot at the crook of her neck that made her moan to get a few more moans out of her - Rey feeling his smile pressed up against her now over sensitive skin. 

 

    She wanted to say something, she wanted to ask what had gotten into him to spark this sudden intense session, but she also just wanted to focus on how he made her feel right then and there in that moment, it wasn’t exactly something she felt everyday, not even in those exceptionally long and stolen kisses. All Rey really wanted to keep feeling was Poe, she wrapped her arms and legs around him to keep herself closer to him, since all she could keep thinking was this was truly the best feeling in the entire world. She managed to steal his lips for another kiss again, and this time when they pulled away, Poe’s eyes stayed locked on hers - hesitating. Rey could sense a wave of uncertainty from him, and it didn’t take her long to piece together why; they had never been intimate like this, and while Poe may have been here before with other girls, Rey had never been here with anyone, and Poe knew that. Thinking that fact was what was making Poe hesitate, Rey kissed him again, this time going for his jawline and kissing down his neck, showing him that she didn’t want to stop, that she just wanted to keep chasing this feeling he caused to stir in her. 

 

    In one swift and silent motion, Poe grabbed ahold of Rey’s waist and climbed on top of her, putting her on her back and taking the pause in Rey’s kisses to continue kissing her. This time his hands were firmly on her hips, pushing her shirt slowly upward inch by inch the more he kissed her and got her to moan. Poe ceased his kisses when he got her shirt halfway up her body, Rey was worried he was going to stop, leaving her wanting to continue whatever had sparked between them here and now, instead he just adjusted himself down her a bit lower and started pressing kisses to the lower part of her abdomen, right at the line of her shorts causing her breath to hitch a bit in her throat, his lips being somewhere on her they’ve never been before and her skin feeling so sensitive that she could barely contain how  _ good _ it all felt. He truly took his time now, kissing slowly, almost timing it to the gasps she’d take, his hands finding a new home resting on the outside of her thighs, slowly inching up along her body the further Poe moved up in his trail of kisses he was leaving behind. When he reached the hem of her shirt, he hesitated again, but this time Rey made it perfectly clear that she still didn’t want him to stop, arching her body up towards him a bit and wrapping her legs around his waist. Rey truly didn’t know what she was exactly doing, she was just acting upon the impulses that ran through her now, the feelings that Poe lit a fire under and didn’t make her think twice. However, she did know that upon urging him to go forward, that it would be going farther than she had ever been with anybody, it didn’t scare her - Rey didn’t get scared of much anything, save for losing the people she loves - it made her nervous that because she hadn’t ever gone this far with anyone before that she would somehow mess it all up, and the last thing she wanted was for this to stop. 

 

    “Rey.” Poe finally spoke, his voice husky and eyes tinged with something Rey had never seen before in full force - lust. “Are you-” 

 

    “Just keep going.” Rey blurted out, she didn’t want to think through what to say other than that, she just wanted to stay in this feeling, and Poe wanting to make sure that it was what she wanted, when she  _ knew _ it was all she wanted was something she didn’t want to linger on, she just wanted to keep feeling his warm lips pressed against her skin and all over her truthfully. 

 

    Without another word, Poe went back to placing a few more kisses at the hem of her shirt, before having her sit up in bed and him pulling her shirt off up and over her head, tossing it onto the floor somewhere before letting her lay back down, pulling the blankets up around them a bit to keep her warm due to her sudden lack of clothing. A few minutes into Poe leaving warm and lingering kisses on her breasts, Rey was biting her lip to hold back some moans and tugging at Poe’s t-shirt, desperately wanting it to be out of the way to hopefully even them out a bit. Poe eventually complied with a grin on his face, tossing his shirt aside, giving Rey the chance to let her hands roam over his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck and only trying to bring him closer to her. It wasn’t until Poe had crawled back up to kiss her neck, his body resting between her thighs and a familiar feeling - only this time on top of her - gave Rey a bit of confidence in what she was doing, lifting her hips up and causing some friction that cause Poe to moan this time, the vibrations playing off of her skin and making everything feel fantastic. When that sensory overload seemed to be too much for Poe, his hands went right to Rey’s hips and pinned them back down against the bed, causing Rey to giggle. 

 

    “Oh, you think that’s funny then?” Poe asked with a smile, taking a break from his exploration of her to admire the utter look of joy on her face. 

 

    “A little bit.” Rey was still giggling, her fingers tracing down the lines of his chest before hooking into the waistband on his boxers, testing pulling at them a bit while she had his attention. 

 

    “And you’re getting pretty brave.” He reached down and grabbed one of her hands, gently tugging it away from his waistband before reaching down to the waistband of her pants. “Maybe we should even out a bit more then.” He smirked. 

 

    “Maybe we should.” Rey replied brazenly, her other hand leaving his boxers and pulling her own shorts down, tossing them aside with everything else, leaving her there under him in nothing but her plain black underwear, and had she known that this was where she would find herself later in the night, she would have opted to wear one of her few lacey pairs instead to make things a bit more interesting. 

 

    Rey didn’t know what happened past this point, she had the general idea, she knew how things were supposed to work, but actually participating in the act was a completely different story, and she was trying her hardest to mask that up. But Poe knew, he knew from the moment that they first started getting serious - mostly due to Rey blurting it out - and he didn’t hesitate to take the lead, but doing so slowly to let Rey adjust to what would be going on next. One of Poe’s hands started gently tracing down her body, until it came to rest between her legs, his fingers slowly starting to trace the most sensitive part of her over the fabric of her underwear. It caused Rey to let a loud moan escape at first as she was getting used to the feeling before she was able to control herself a bit better, trying to let herself relax and not to let her muscles tense up too much, though it was so hard to control much of anything going on with her body with Poe’s hand right there. Rey didn't know exactly when he managed to start sliding her underwear off and down her legs; all she did know was when there was the sudden feeling of his fingers inside of her and every muscle in her body began to painfully tense up. Poe noticed right away, and while his hand stayed, he managed to work back up to facing Rey, placing a few light kisses on her neck and mumbling a few things that would hopefully calm her. 

 

    “It's okay, Rey. Relax. I'll stop if you want.” Poe mumbled against her skin, Rey trying to focus more on the kisses than the pressure that she couldn't decide if it was painful or pleasant. 

 

    “No, don't.” Rey managed to say, her focus shifting again to the pressure, even though she tried to relax. 

 

    He tried to work around what was making her uncomfortable, and Rey was grateful for that, though she knew before things got better they would hurt - a lot. Rey didn't pay attention to when he moved his fingers somewhere else down between her legs, but this time it was far more pleasant, letting most of her muscles relax and actually really enjoy whatever he was doing to her now. Poe kept kissing her neck and everywhere else he could reach, listening to Rey's moans with a smile and trying to burn into his mind just how beautiful she looked right in that moment. She was already wet, that much Poe knew from the moment his fingers sank into her, but Poe didn't dare to think of anything further until he felt Rey tense up and a series of moans and groans, along with Rey's fingernails sinking into his shoulder blades told him that she'd just gone through her first orgasum and she was a bit more relaxed afterwards. 

 

    Rey tried to mumble some sort of protest when Poe's fingers left her, suddenly feeling like something was missing. But everything felt so good right now, she couldn't fight the smile off of her face or try and hide just how much she enjoyed the extra light kisses Poe pressed to her stomach, his hands now tracing invisible lines on the inside of her thighs. She stayed perfectly content beneath him for a while, until she started to focus again and her fingers traveled to Poe's waistband again, tugging at it gently and wanting what came next. 

 

    Poe didn't question this time, mostly because his mind was thinking of what came next as well, and without hesitation he aided Rey in getting rid of the boxers, guiding her legs back up to be around his waist, and used every bit of his control that he had left to start things slow. Rey would have been lying to herself if she said that she wasn't scared of the new sudden fullness, or that it didn't hurt nearly as bad as she thought. But she was trying to mask her nerves and trying to focus on other things to keep her relaxed when the pain hit. She dug her heels into the bed, she bit her lip so hard that she thought she would bleed, and she was sure she was hurting Poe with how hard she sank her nails into his back; but Poe was trying his best to be gentle and Rey knew that. He wanted to reassure her as he had before, but all he could manage this time were grunts and moans of his own pleasure as he took his time, pausing when Rey tensed up and going forward when she relaxed. When Poe stopped, that's when Rey realized just how different she felt already, and when Poe started to pull away, things didn't hurt quite as much. 

 

    It didn't take long for him to set a pace for them, Rey barely able to keep her eyes open and Poe somehow still monitoring how Rey reacted in case she wanted to stop despite his own pleasure he was going through now. Eventually, when he felt Rey relax and actually play around with letting herself tense up around him and relax, Poe let things go faster, and that's when Rey's moans of pleasure that would always be engraved into his memory now started to return. She felt good, more importantly, he was making her feel good, and that was when Poe allowed himself to get just a bit lost in how good she was making him feel. He would speed things up to hear Rey pant and feel her body tense up beneath him, and he would slow down when he just wanted to commit to memory how warm and how good it felt to be inside of her; there were only so many times he could imagine it, but now he'd know forever. Rey on the other hand was enjoying every aspect of it, she loved when he made her feel good, but she was also trying her best to get more moans from Poe and watch him be lost in his own pleasure that she just so happened to cause. All of it was an amazing new experience for her, and when she started to lose control of the way her breath hitched and how her muscles tensed up, she knew it'd be over soon. 

 

    Rey tried her best to keep her orgasum from coming, she knew they could keep going afterwards really, but knowing Poe the gentleman, he'd stop himself from having his own pleasure just to let her be comfortable. She wasn't going to let that happen and instead held on with all her might, the moans escaping from her being a bit louder and more frequent since Rey had to let something out, but she was determined to have Poe feel good. Eventually, Poe's breathing fell out of rhythm, his breaths a bit deeper and moans a bit louder, all signs that Rey hoped meant he was almost there because she was barely hanging on. She wanted Poe to let go first, she thought it'd only be fair; but then it changed when he spoke. 

 

    “Oh kriff, Rey.” Was all he managed to say before it devolved into him just moaning out her name with every thrust, almost chanting it as if her were under a spell. 

 

    “Kriff, Poe!” Rey squeaked out. “I can't, I can't, I can't hold out much longer.” She finally managed to string her thoughts together. 

 

    “Then don't.” He said, his voice low, his brown eyes on her and still brimming with lust, and that was all it really took for Rey to let go. 

 

    It came crashing over her, more intense and draining than the first one; her body shivering, her skin now covered in a layer of sweat, and the rest of her trying to keep up with the rest of Poe's motions. 

 

    “Poe, don't stop.” Rey mumbled, she didn't want Poe to pull away now, she wanted him to feel good just like she did now, and the mere sound of his name leaving her lips seem to do the trick. 

 

    It was a jolt of a feeling, something incredibly warm now somewhere deep in her, and Poe's slow and jerky movements telling her he was done. He stopped eventually, still inside her, and nearly every part of his body was now exhausted. Rey looked up at with with nothing but joy and admiration on her face, her fingers tangling in his hair and trying to pull him to her lips, the two sharing a lazy kiss before Poe slowly pulled away and rolled into his back beside her, sweaty and gasping for air just as she was. After catching her breath, Rey used what strength she had left and pulled herself over to Poe, her hands resting on his chest and her head on his shoulder, giving her just the right angle to stretch and press a few kisses to his jawline. 

 

    “I love you.” Poe stated, it wasn't their first time exchanging the words, but Rey felt as if it were the first time it was truly expressed to just how deeply Poe felt. 

 

    “I know.” Rey replied with a grin and got a laugh out of Poe. “I love you too.” She whispered back, followed by another quick kiss before the two slowly started to finally fall asleep. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Aside from the two trying to awkwardly get BB-8 to go explore the base while they had to get dressed, Rey felt as if things with her and Poe were going to be okay. At breakfast he actually talked to her about the temple, and throughout the day he was certainly more affectionate and not afraid if everyone on the base saw it. Of all the people who seemed to notice this new behavior between them, Jess seemed to be the most relieved. 

 

    “Thank god you two made up, you two are horrible when you fight.” She announced while they were going over reports of sightings of the First Order near other planets, Poe’s hand firmly on Rey’s knee under the table and not even twitching when Jess noticed; everyone else in the squadron tried to hide their smirks. 

 

    Everything seemed to be peaceful, until Lieutenant Connix rushed up towards the squadron, and without any explanation, brought up a display of a star system on the holo in front of them. 

 

    “Uh, Lieutenant Connix, are you okay?” Jess asked, watching her curiously as she was studying the map in front of them. 

 

    “No, not really.” She replied, and Rey noticed the slight panicked look in her eyes, before her mother walked into the room and up to the table beside her. 

 

    “Connix has just been trying to hide this from Ben, for good reason, but she had to wait until I got all of you in one place today to finally show you this.” Leia sighed. 

 

    “Why do you have to hide a star system map from Ben?” Rey questioned, sitting more upright in her seat and Poe’s hand finally moving off of her leg under the gaze of General Leia Organa herself. 

 

    “Because this is a map of the Hapes Cluster.” Leia started. “It might sound a bit familiar to you, Rey.” 

 

    “Yeah...wait, isn’t that where Tenel Ka is from?” Rey asked, she remembered Tenel Ka telling her whatever the curious young Rey wanted to know about her people - how the women were treated like royalty and seen as true and powerful. 

 

    “Who is Tenel Ka?” Snap jumped into the conversation. 

 

    “She’s a former Jedi, Ben and Rey trained with her while she was training with Luke. She also happens to be the Queen Mother of Hapes now, and this morning there was a distress signal received from the Hapes Cluster.” Leia explained. “It wasn’t labeled urgent so I sent Red Squadron out to see what was happening, the few who came back said the system is under attack.” 

 

    “What?” Rey snapped. “When did they get back?” 

 

    “Ten minutes ago, the ones who came back are all in medical and probably knocked out in bacta tanks by now. They said the system is infested with the First Order, they don’t know how they got there and how they cause so much damage already, but whoever sent that signal must not have had the time to send it urgently.” Leia stated. 

 

    “We need to go now if that place has a chance.” Poe rose from his seat, Rey taking a hold of his hand right away to keep him by her side. 

 

    “You’re not going out there alone this time, not after what happened on Tatooine. I’ve got Blue Squadron already out on the tarmac and foot soldiers being loaded into transports with as much as we can take to fight back. Even with the New Republic helping us, we don’t have enough men to go against what the remainder of Red Squadron said.” Leia said. 

 

    “How do you plan on keeping Ben from finding out all of this? He knows that’s where she went back to after Jedi training, surely he’ll want to see her again.” Rey stated. 

 

    “I know he will.” Leia sighed. “But he’ll be too reckless out there, he’ll get even more people killed just to get to her, including himself. Luke should be here any minute with his Padawans to keep Ben busy.” 

 

    “Uncle Luke is coming? I thought he’d never leave the Jedi Temple.” Rey said, a bit amazed that Leia somehow got Luke to leave the planet. 

 

    “It wasn’t easy, but when he heard he said he’d get here right away; and you know how he is with his Padawans, he doesn’t trust to leave them alone with anyone, not even themselves.” Leia said, though Rey was sure that she and everyone else knew the reasoning behind it - the Jedi were just returning to the galaxy, and all it would take is for someone to go charging over to the planet to wipe out all the unprepared and young Padawans. 

 

    “So a bunch of kids are supposed to keep Ben distracted from half the base leaving?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Yes, a bunch of Jedi’s in training who are far stronger than you think will do fine with keeping him distracted for a while.” Leia announced, making sure to put emphasis on never underestimating even a young Padawan. “While the best outcome for this mission would be to drive the First Order out of the Hapes Cluster, there was a request sent along with the distress signal.” 

 

    Leia hit a few buttons on the holo console, and soon the distress signal popped up, attached to it was a message. 

 

_ “If we are forsaken, save the Queen Mother.” _

 

    “They think they’re doomed?” Rey questioned softly. 

 

    “I’m afraid that they are.” Leia sighed. “Do your best out there, all of you, I know above all we want to save the cluster but...if it’s turning into a no-win scenario, I’m ordering this squadron to save the Queen Mother of Hapes and get out of that cluster as fast as you can.” 

 

    “You’re telling us to abandon fellow Resistance fighters?” Poe questioned, a look of horror on his face. 

 

    “Everyone going out there knows they might not come back, and there is a chance this squadron might not either, but everyone has orders to keep you all alive as long as possible, especially when the call is made to save the Queen Mother and bail out. If the Hapes Cluster is as bad as everyone says, it’s already lost; your direct orders from me and the Senators of the New Republic are to save Tenel Ka and her heir at all costs. If the cluster dies...at least their culture won’t.” Leia announced grimly. 

  
    Rey wanted to question the ‘heir’ part of Leia’s statement, she didn’t know Tenel Ka had a child, but there were more pressing matters at hand. Her, Poe, and the rest of the Twin Suns squadron were being sent into a very real death scenario, where one of them, all of them, or none of them might die; not to mention the crippling loss of the other soldiers and pilots going out there. It was a suicide mission at this point, but it had to be done, and if nothing could save the Hapes Cluster, then they had to save Tenel Ka at all costs. 


	17. Make the Call: Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I can't believe it's already been a month since I've last updated this fic, omg. I love writing this fic with all my heart, but I guess that's what happens when real life gets in the way! I'm making this chapter in parts (which I know is terrible since I can't write as often as I'd like to anymore) but I feel like that's the right way to do this part of the story since it's so long and so important, everything deserves it's time in the sun for this arc. So I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, hopefully I'll get a new chapter done before another month goes by, I'd like to with things hopefully settling down with work, but either way, let me know if you liked this chapter, reviews are always appreciated! <3

    Rey had a bad feeling deep down in her gut, she always got that when something bad was about to happen; Luke claimed it was part of her connection to the Force, she could tell if something was going to go wrong - almost a premonition of sorts - and she never liked when she got that feeling. The feeling only got worse when she looked at Poe, almost as if it were telling her that something bad was specifically going to happen to him. She didn’t want to tell anyone that she saw Anakin lingering around her now, going back and forth between her and Poe, almost as if he were trying to keep a watch on them. Everything was happening too fast out on the tarmac, she didn’t know what to say or what to do, and the all consuming bad feeling didn’t help either.

 

    “You’re worrying.” Rey heard a familiar voice behind her, and she must have been so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice Luke’s presence until now. 

 

    “What? No.” Rey shook her head, turning around to face her uncle. It had only been a few months since she’d last seen Luke, but somehow he looked older already, the weight of the galaxy aging him every day since he became a Jedi. “I’m not.” 

 

    “You get the bad ability to lie from me.” Luke smirked. “But you are worrying, that’s why he’s here.” Luke gestured towards the Force ghost of Anakin, keeping a close eye on Poe right now. “He’ll try to help as best he can, but there’s only so much a Force ghost can do, even for someone with Force sensitivity.”

 

    Rey looked at him curiously for a moment, she knew he wasn’t talking about her, maybe Poe? She’d felt it every once in awhile, a small spark of something from the Force that wasn’t her, but she didn’t think Poe was that Force sensitive. 

 

    “Either way, you should be careful out there.” Luke assured her. “Even the best pilots get shot down in times like these.” 

 

    “I know.” Rey sighed. “You be careful as well, you know how Ben gets, if he finds out where we’re all going-” 

 

    “I can handle Ben, I’ve trained Jedi before you two, and with any luck I’ll still be training Jedi until my last breath.” Luke sighed. “But you’re just as reckless as him when you’re out there with people you care about, control your emotions while out there too.” 

 

    “I will.” Rey nodded. 

 

    With that, Luke gave her a hug before walking off, Rey spotting his troop of Padawans already in the hanger, some around her age, some just little kids still learning what the Force even was. As Luke ushered them all into the base, Rey turned back to the tarmac and made her way towards Poe. 

 

_ [Friend-Rey! We’re going on a very important mission, I will make sure that you and Friend-Poe stay connected, R2-D2 has offered to help with that.]  _ BB-8 rolled up to her and beeped out right away, he always got excited with the prospect of going on a mission, he was almost like Poe in that manner. 

 

    R2-D2 zoomed over to Rey’s side, the tried and true droid had been through so many battles before, and yet despite his age he was one of the most useful droids around the galaxy - just like BB-8.

 

    “Thanks, Artoo.” Rey reached over and pat the top of his head, she already felt a bit better knowing that the droids would keep a link between her and Poe if they were to be separated off the comms. “If you want I’ve got the ship up and running, you can go get yourself familiar with it.” 

 

    R2 offered up a beep of acceptance before heading off towards Rey’s X-Wing, trying to get whatever he needed to set up and probably run a diagnostics on the ship even though Rey knew it didn’t need it. BB-8 proceeded to do the same, getting situated in Poe’s ship just as Poe walked over to her, and Anakin disappeared for just a moment to let her talk to Poe in private. 

 

    “Hey.” Rey said, she didn’t know why she suddenly felt so awkward around Poe, she had no reason to, especially after last night. 

 

    “Hey, you ready to go?” Poe asked, he wasn’t paying much attention, busying himself with checking the X-Wing over one last time. 

 

    “Uh, yeah.” Rey answered. “Could I talk to you for a minute?” 

 

    “We are talking.” Poe insisted, still paying attention to his ship. 

 

    “Poe, please.” Rey pleaded, her voice cracked a bit, giving away her emotion, and it seemed to be enough to capture Poe’s attention finally, him walking away from the ship and walking over to her. 

 

    “What’s wrong?” Poe asked, his voice suddenly filled with concern as he reached out and pulled Rey in for a tight embrace. “Sorry, I distract myself before I go out there-” 

 

    “It’s fine, it’s not that. I’m just...if it’s as bad as they say it is out there, I’m worried we’ll get separated or worse, that you’ll get shot down.” Rey didn’t cry, she was tired of crying, but her voice kept shaking and cracking and she just wished it would stop. She wrapped her arms around Poe and pressed a kiss to his cheek, holding onto him with all her might. 

 

    “I know.” Poe sighed, rubbing her back a bit. “Things are gonna happen out there, I can’t promise anything, I hate making promises I can’t keep, and I’d hate to break one to you.” 

 

    “Let’s hope it’s not that bad out there then.” Rey said, it was a lie she had to tell herself out loud to believe just a little bit. 

 

    “Yeah.” Poe agreed quietly, pulling away from Rey then and reaching for a hidden necklace that Rey hadn’t seen before. “Here, I want you to hold on to this, that way you’ll have some part of me with you out there if we get separated.” 

 

    It was a ring on a simple leather cord, Rey was sure she must have seen the ring once or twice on Poe’s nightstand, but she’d never seen him wear it before. “It was my mother's a long time ago, it means a lot to me, and I want you to hold onto it. When we get back in one piece you can give it back to me.” He gave her a smile before putting the necklace on her, the ring hanging right over her heart. 

 

    “I’ll keep it safe.” Rey assured him, stealing a quick kiss from his lips. “Here,” Rey took her leather bracelet off and put it on Poe’s wrist, she’d had it since she was a little girl, it had been with her through everything, it seemed only right for Poe to have something important of hers to hold onto while out there. “Now you have something of mine with you out there too.” 

 

    “I’ll keep it safe.” Poe repeated to her, this time pulling her in for a deeper kiss, one that Rey would have liked to stay in for forever, if it hadn’t been for someone interrupting their kiss by clearing their throat. 

 

    “Ready to go?” Han asked, Rey turning to face her father with a blush on her cheeks, but also wondering what he was doing out here. 

 

    “Dad, what are you doing out here?” Rey asked, confused. 

 

    “Well, it’s not like any of you out there can exactly pick up the Queen mother with your X-Wings, someone has to go out there and get her back here, I’m going with your squadron.” Han explained. 

 

    “What? Does Mom know?” Rey questioned. 

 

    “Yeah, she’s not happy about it, she’s not happy about sending either of us out there, but she knows it has to be done.” Han sighed. “Come on kid, I think the squadron is getting ready to leave without you two lovebirds.” 

 

    “Okay.” Rey nodded and turned back to Poe, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Keep talking to me out there, okay?” 

 

    “Okay.” Poe assured her, returning the kiss and watching her walk off with Han at her side. 

  
    Rey wasn’t the only one with a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, and it only grew as he watched her walk away. A cold feeling ran down Poe’s spine and he knew some Force ghost had returned, probably the same one whom he’d felt lingering around earlier. He hoped that if anything, they could help him stay in contact with Rey, he didn’t want to lose her, not now or ever. 


	18. Make the Call: Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Apparently, I had this chapter done already for a while...oops. I realized it'd been forever since I actually updated this fic and I went to check if I'd started it and...well, I had it finished already :P I'm up way too late and listening to a lecture from my class and deciding to post this so I don't forget again and I can work on my other fic with the few days I have off! Hope you guys enjoy, comments are always appreciated! <3

    Rey fondly remembered the stories that Tenel Ka had told her of the Hapes Cluster when she was just a little girl; how bright the lights were, how strong and revered the women were, and how regal everything had been in her life. While she was still young at the time, she thought it all sounded wonderful though she was more of a fighting girl at heart, and granted the older she got, the less wonderful it sounded being the Queen Mother of an entire cluster. But regardless of how her ideas changed the older she grew, she always imagined the Hapes Cluster to be a beautiful place, and perhaps it was...when it wasn’t being invaded by dozens of Star Destroyers and countless TIE Fighters. The minute they entered the cluster, Rey went on auto-pilot, trying to stay with her squadron and keep everyone protected and on alert, trying not to think about how one small slip up could result in her, her friends, her father, or Poe killed. 

 

_ “Twin Suns Squadron, we’ve got too many hostiles, you’ve got to go through with the Hapes order quickly.”  _ Someone came through over the comms from one of the other fighting squadrons. 

 

    “We read you loud and clear.” Poe answered right away. “It’s too much out here for all of us to go down, we’ll be a moving target, one of us needs to break off and go.” 

 

    “We’re on it.” Han answered right away, with Chewie’s agreements in the background. 

 

    “Rey, go down there with them, they’re gonna need back-up to get to the surface.” Poe replied. 

 

    “What? No, I’m staying with you.” Rey replied. 

 

    “I’ll go down there with them, Dameron.” Jess replied quickly over the comms, Rey knew she was trying to keep things calm, the last thing the situation needed was her and Poe fighting. 

 

    “Alright-” 

 

    Rey had been listening to the comms, she wasn’t paying attention, she was trying to focus on staying with Poe, because if she had her eyes on him, he’d be safe - nothing bad would happen to him. That was how something had happened to  _ her _ ; suddenly one of her engines was going offline, there was a loud and piercing beep going through her ship, and the comms were going fuzzy. 

 

    “REY! R- CA- REY!” Was all she heard over the comms, a mixture of her squadrons voices, mostly all she heard was Poe. 

 

    “POE!” Rey shouted out, the comms were dead in her ship, everything was chaotic, but it only took moments for R2 to react and link up with BB-8 to get Poe and Rey connected again. “POE!” Rey shouted again. 

 

    “REY!” Poe’s voice finally came through. “You have to land, one of your engines are offline, land with the Falcon, Jess and I will cover you.” 

 

    “Okay.” Rey answered back. 

 

    “Try to avoid anymore shots if they slip through, you can’t afford to take another hit, the Falcon is gonna cover you too.” Poe was trying to keep his calm Commander demeanor on, she could hear the chatter from the comms come through as well when he spoke, but she knew he was trying to keep himself together, just as she was trying to do the same despite all their training for this. 

 

    “I got it.” Rey replied faintly, all of her focus going to maneuvering the highly difficult ship. 

 

    Rey kept her eyes on where she was going, but she couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of her squadron pulling together to help keep her blocked, even her father falling into their formation in hopes of keeping her from getting hit any further while she tried to land on planet. When the planet got closer and closer, Rey knew she could handle it from there with the Falcon at her side. 

 

    “Poe, I can land, you and the rest of the squadron go help the others, Falcon and I can land safely.” Rey stated. 

 

    “Alright, be careful down there… I love you.” Poe said faintly. 

 

    “I love you too.” Rey replied without hesitation, listening to Poe giving the order to the others as they broke apart and only the Falcon remained at her side. 

 

    While she knew she could land relatively safe, and that her father was safe, she still felt that twinge of dread when it came to her friends and Poe’s safety. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Jumping out of the cockpit as soon as she made her emergency landing, Rey scurried around her ship to see just how bad the damage was. With almost the entire wing missing, she was surprised that she was even able to control the ship and land at all. It'd be impossible to repair, which meant she'd have to go on the Falcon, and as soon as they had Tenel Ka, they'd be out of this system before they could blink, and Rey knew Poe down to his core - even in their short time together, he was so easy to read. Poe would stay out here with the rest of the squadron, fighting until the end of either the battle or his life, and now Rey had little to stop him, other than the link to BB-8 she had through R2. 

 

    “Poe!” Rey called out as she made her way back around the ship, running over to R2 and kneel down in front of the droid as he descended from Rey’s ship. “Poe, can you still hear me?” 

 

    “I can hear you, are you alright?” Poe asked, his voice a bit strained and frantic, focusing on what was happening up in the sky. 

 

    “I’m fine.” Rey assured him. 

 

    “Alright, Rey, I’ve gotta cut this connection for right now-” 

 

    “What? Why? What’s going on?” Rey asked, there was something that he didn’t want her to hear, and something that he couldn’t be distracted from. 

 

    “I’ll tell you when it’s done, alright, just get the Queen Mother and get back to base, I love you.” Poe said. 

 

    “Poe!” Rey shouted, but the line was dead, only R2 beeping an actual heartfelt apology for the connection actually being terminated on his end. 

 

    With Rey trying to cope with the now deafening silence, she finally heard boots crunching against grass and the familiar troubled Wookie noises that told her that her father and Chewbacca were landed and right beside her. 

 

    “Rey, you alright?” Han asked, kneeling down beside her and Rey almost instantly burying her face in her father's chest to cry, hugging him in the process. “Alright, it's okay.” Han mumbled into her hair, hugging her back and trying to calm her in the process. 

 

    Chewie made a distressed groan before kneeling and embracing Han and Rey as well, giving Rey the fond memory of how Chewie and her dad would always hug her and hold her tight when she was younger whenever she got scared. 

 

    “Come on, let’s go get this mission over with.” Han sighed, both Chewie and him getting to their feet before trying to help Rey do the same. “The sooner we get Tenel Ka, the sooner we get back to base and you can go back out there with Poe, I know that’s what you’re going to do anyway.” 

 

    “Okay.” Rey sniffled, nodding her head and trying to keep everything straight in her mind. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


_ “Twin Leader, I’ve got hostiles all over me-”  _

 

_     “-Three down, six more coming in-”  _

 

_     “-Engine one is gone-”  _

 

    Poe took a deep breath and tried to keep all the chatter from getting too confused in his head. He needed to focus on how to get as many people as he could alive and out of this mess. He was probably focusing on the chatter too heavily to notice the shot coming right for him that knocked one of his own engines out in the atmosphere of one Hapean planets. Poe only had time to hear his friends shout out over the comms and think of Rey one last time before everything went black. 

  
  


* * *

  
  
    Just inside the safety of the palace doors where Tenel Ka was being kept by her warriors, Rey felt weak. She heard her father's voice, but it became further and further away before it was gone completely and she fainted, hitting the floor beneath her feeling as if a part of her had just died. 


	19. Author's Note

**Author’s Note**

 

Hey guys! 

 

It’s been a while, and sadly this isn’t an update, more like a notice about this fic. 

 

I lost inspiration for it, to put it simply, I wrote myself into a corner that I couldn’t write myself out of and fix without completely starting over. So, there won’t be anymore updates for Twin Suns unfortunately, but I’m putting this note up for more than just to say this! 

 

Like I mentioned, I couldn’t continue it without restarting it, so that’s what I’ve done - I restarted it! It’s a bit different in it’s tone, meaning it’s darker and more angst filled, it’s still a Damerey fic but it focuses on the sibling bond between Ben & Rey more, and the best part is I’ve already started writing it!! It’s already posted here on AO3 under the new title of Young Gods (  [ http://archiveofourown.org/works/10686429/chapters/23664144 ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10686429/chapters/23664144) ). I don’t know really what to call it since I’m not exactly re-writing what I’ve already written, but it’s the same idea behind Twin Suns that’s not fueling this fic. 

 

I hope you guys go check it out and that you like it! I know my writing and writing style has improved and changed a lot since I last update this fic, so hopefully it’ll be worth it. I’m not deleting this fic, I’m going to keep it up here because I loved this story a lot, and I know you guys did too; plus since I’ve gotten a new laptop since last writing this fic, I don’t have all the old files for it, so it’ll be nice to just know that it’s here still. 

  
Thank you guys so much and I hope you guys will like the new fic! <3 


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